March 29, 2021- 11:04 p.m
TULSA, OK – A jury has awarded a Tulsa man the maximum amount permitted in a lawsuit that alleged a jail detention officer smashed his face into a wall and fractured his knee while he was being detained inside the Tulsa County jail. Following a three-day trial that ended March 10, the jury found in favor of 38-year-old Jesse Edward Dalton’s excessive force claim and ordered Tulsa County to pay him $175,000, the cap under state tort claims law.
“We are very pleased that the jury awarded Jesse the statutory maximum amount of damages available under the Oklahoma Governmental Tort Claims Act,” his attorney, Dan Smolen, said in a written statement. “For the past three years, Jesse has worked six days a week, overcome his struggles with addiction, and turned his life around for the better,” the statement continues. “Now, he can put the incident at the Jail in the rearview mirror.”
Dalton can be seen talking to one of the jail employees, who is sitting at a desk. After talking to the worker, Dalton can be seen walking away, taking off his jacket and throwing it on the floor while pacing in front of the desk and hitting an open palm with a closed fist. The jail employee walks from behind the desk to detain Dalton, followed closely by two other jail workers..
