Two men filed separate lawsuits against Cheyenne Police Department officers this week – both alleging excessive force.
Brandon Moyte, 35, accuses two officers of folding his body so that his knee buckled backward, severing a major artery, shattering his tibia, tearing his knee ligaments and damaging a nerve – after he refused a warranted DUI blood draw.
These injuries left him disabled with a foot-drag walk and handicapped his provider abilities, and his wife left him, Moyte’s complaint says.
Richard Medlock, 77, accuses officers of unlawfully stopping and then tackling him violently, breaking his ribs.
The Cheyenne Police Department declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.
The Moyte Case
A Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper pulled over Moyte on Nov. 5, 2024, at 5:56 p.m., for drunk driving. He admitted he’d been drinking, and failed field-sobriety tests, Moyte’s complaint says.
He was arrested and taken to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center for a blood draw, for which a judge had granted warrant.
Sitting in the hospital vehicle bay with his wrists cuffed behind his back, Moyte learned of the warranted blood draw but stood and said he would not consent.
Officers pushed him back in the chair.
“Mr. Moyte was informed he could either consent or the officers would put him face down on the ground to draw his blood,” says the complaint, which doesn’t specify who told him that.
Moyte stood again and said, “Face down baby, let’s go.”
The complaint says he remained handcuffed and didn’t make aggressive moves toward any officer.
It says an officer “Zabriskie” and “Lecaire” grabbed Moyte and leveraged their bodies so that they wedged his right leg into a locked position and forced his upper body forward.
The “Lecaire” reference might be a misprint. Online searches don’t show an officer at CPD by that name.
The complaint, relating from the WHP report, doesn’t list officer first names.
Moyte’s leg bent in half the wrong way at the knee, shattering his tibia, tearing his ligaments, and severing a major artery, says the complaint. He screamed and his body went limp on the floor, the document says.
A Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper called for a gurney.
Medical imaging reportedly showed his popliteal (back of the knee) artery was completely severed, his femur and tibia dislocated, his tibial plateau shattered, and bone fragments floated, trapped in the center of his knee, amid severely torn and disrupted major knee ligaments.
Medical personnel performed emergency life-saving surgery from 8:41 p.m to 2 a.m., the complaint says.
The popliteal artery appeared transected, or slashed, the document says.
The surgeon performed an arterial bypass. His peroneal (outer right side) nerve, also slashed, could not be repaired, the complaint says.
The nerve controls the lifting of the foot and gives feeling to the top of the foot and outer leg. Moyte’s complaint says that several medical procedures and two years later, his foot now drags or slaps against the ground as he walks.
He lost his work as a plumber and contractor and has had to refurbish abandoned furniture to eat. He’s lost his utilities, has had to take advantage of mortgage-assistance programs, and couldn’t provide for his family, the complaint alleges.
It also says Moyte’s wife divorced him.
“Mr. Moyte has sustained injuries, including past and future physical harm, and past and future emotional and mental harm, including fear, humiliation, and mental anguish,” the complaint says.
The complaint, by Devon Petersen of Fleener Petersen LLC, accuses both officers of excessive force, and asks for both compensatory and punitive damages in an amount to be determined at trial.
The Medlock Case
Unlike Moyte, Medlock’s case sues the City of Cheyenne in addition to individual officers.
It also asks for a minimum of $1 million.
Medlock is a Vietnam war veteran, his complaint says.
The events of Medlock’s arrest happened on the same day as Moyte’s: Nov. 5, 2024.
A car crash happened at Powderhouse Road and Gardenia Drive in Cheyenne, and Cheyenne officers blocked westbound traffic on Gardenia while the road was cleared.
Medlock approached the intersection driving south on Powderhouse, stopped at the intersection, and asked an emergency responder whether he could go west on Gardenia, the complaint says.
Officer Marcus Hairson-Payton motioned for Medlock to turn east onto Tranquility Road instead.
The complaint says Medlock kept talking to the emergency responder.; Hairston-Payton approached, and again told Medlock to turn left.
Medlock “expressed frustration” but complied and turned left, the complaint says.
The complaint doesn’t quote what Medlock said.
It says Medlock turned, and there was no incoming traffic in his path.
Hairston-Payton ran to his patrol vehicle, flicked on his lights and chased Medlock, the complaint says. Medlock pulled over.
“What is your problem?” Hairston-Payton reportedly asked.
“At no point during the stop did Defendant Hairston-Payton articulate to Mr. Medlock any lawful basis for the stop,” the complaint says.
Medlock informed the officer that he was a veteran, was licensed to carry firearms and might have firearms in the vehicle, the complaint says.
The officer called for backup.
Officer James McClaskey arrived and immediately ordered Medlock out of the vehicle, the complaint says. Medlock stepped out, reportedly unarmed.
“Without explanation or warning, Defendant McClaskey grabbed at both of Mr. Medlock’s wrists,” the document says. Medlock, startled, raised a hand to the officer’s shoulder, but didn’t strike or threaten him, the complaint says.
The document says both officers tripped and tackled Medlock, who landed on his side with his left arm trapped under his body.
They pressed his body into the ground while shouting at him to put his arms behind his back, a position he couldn’t achieve given how his body was restrained, allegedly.
Medlock told them they’d broken his ribs. He was right, the complaint says.
He was handcuffed and taken to the emergency room, “by law enforcement in front of people who worked at the hospital and very likely knew him,” says the document.
Body-camera footage later showed Hairston-Payton, McClaskey, and Sgt. Matthew Solberg discussing the incident, reportedly.
Hairston-Payton was unable to give grounds for the stop, the complaint says.
Medlock had cursed him and driven away from a consensual encounter, the officer allegedly noted.
Solberg muted his body camera for more than two minutes while discussion continued, the document asserts.
Medlock was cited for careless driving and refusing to obey but the traffic stop didn’t hold in court, and the charges were later dismissed, says the document.
This complaint, filed by Mary Katherine Ames of Woodhouse Roden Ames & Brennan LLC, accuses Hairston-Payton of unreasonable seizure, Hairston-Payton and McClaskey of excessive force, unlawful arrest, failure to intervene, assault, and battery.
It accuses the two officers and the city of false imprisonment and/or negligence, and the two officers of malicious prosecution and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
