On May 8, 2019, officers from the Maple Heights Police Department booked 36-year-old Nicholas Colbert, a National Guard veteran, for the possession of opioids. Colbert, a father of four, had begun using opioids to manage a collarbone fracture and had grown addicted.
On the morning of May 9, staff at the Cuyahoga County Corrections Center found Colbert dead in his cell, where Colbert had hung himself with the cord of a hoodie tied to his bunk.
His family filed a federal lawsuit in 2021, claiming massive negligence by county jail staff.
The county, court documents read, was “obligated to take proper steps and to have and enforce policies and procedures to prevent Nicholas Colbert from committing suicide or engaging in self-harm.”
On Tuesday, Cuyahoga County Council is expected to okay legislation that would settle the four-year-long case with a $1 million payout to Colbert’s family.
If passed, it would be the second largest cash settlement paid out to the family of inmates who had committed suicide while detained at the county jail before federal oversight began shortly after Colbert’s death. In 2022, the family of Brenden Kiekisz was awarded $2.1 million in a settlement four years after Kiekisz killed himself while being detained at the jail.
Colbert’s suicide was the fifth in the county jail in just a year’s span, following the deaths of Kiekisz, Esteben Parra, Joseph Arquillo and Gregory Fox.
Deaths that Paul Cristallo, the Colberts’ attorney, says prodded reform at the trouble facility, which was the subject of a blistering report by the U.S. Marshals after a string of deaths prior to the pandemic.
“Nicholas Colbert was a loving father and family man who will be deeply missed by those who loved him,” Cristallo wrote Scene in an email on Monday.
“The Colbert family appreciates the support and prayers they received during their pursuit of justice on Nick’s behalf,” he said. “While Nick’s untimely death was surely tragic, the family has faith that it caused necessary changes within the County Jail for the benefit of others.”
A Cuyahoga County spokesperson told Scene, “The County negotiated a settlement of this case, without admitting fault, in order to bring this unfortunate episode to an end. By doing so we hope to bring closure to both the County and Mr. Colbert’s family.”
Cristallo and the Colbert family have long argued that CCCC officers failed to take seriously Colbert’s attempt to end his life five weeks before he was booked that May. Medical screening was inadequate, they said, or else jail staff and medical personnel would have been well aware of Colbert’s previous suicide attempt.
Instead, the original complaint reads, officers didn’t follow policy when overseeing Colbert. They allowed him a hoodie with a cord Colbert used as a belt. They “were not at their assigned stations” and apparently “falsified documents” that would’ve confirmed Colbert was being checked on repeatedly.
The Colbert family will not receive any funds, Cristallo said, until Cuyahoga County Probate Court approves the agreement, which should be in early 2026.
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