Family Claims State Workers Assaulted Brain Damaged Man

A patient at the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo was beaten up and his family says it was all over a can of soda.

They also say the people who attacked him were security guards. The security guards were called in when Shawn Whitaker, 38, started yelling at a staff member because he wanted to finish a soda he started earlier the afternoon of July 24th. It was against institute rules for him to have the rest of the soda at that time.

“If this is an example of the level of care and the use of excessive restraint that occurs in there, then one wonders, what happens to people who don’t have families to advocate for them,” says Patrick Avalos, a friend of the Whittakers, attorney and former Pueblo city councilman. The family asked him to be their spokesman because they say they’re too emotionally strained to speak publicly.

A state spokeswoman confirms there is an internal investigation and they’ve asked the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office to investigate whether any laws were broken. 4 staff members involved are currently on paid administrative leave.

The Whittaker family says Shawn suffers from a traumatic brain injury that he suffered in 1991 when he was hit by a drunk driver.

They say last month he went to the mental health institute voluntarily, to get help for depression.

The family was told the incident was caught on surveillance tape and Shawn punched one of the guards. However, the punch was not caught on tape and the family has not been allowed to view the tape.

“When you choose to work in an institutional setting, whether you’re medical staff or you’re hospital police, you are expected to work at a higher level of tolerance because you have to factor in the population you’re dealing with,” says Avalos.

The Whittaker family says they’re concerned with more than the injuries, they want to know why it took around 12 to 14 hours to get Shawn medical attention for his injuries.

Avalos says the Whittaker family wants this story told so “no other family has to go through the uncertainty, the agony and the pain that was suffered by their family member.”

The Whittaker family has consulted a Denver attorney, but have not decided whether to file a lawsuit.

Target 13 Investigates has asked the hospital for surveillance tape and other information, but they say they can’t release it because of medical privacy laws.

We’ll keep you posted.