A former Colorado correctional facility youth inmate who said he was choke-slammed, lifted by the throat and then had his complaints dismissed has filed a civil lawsuit against three men in leadership there.

Frankie Chiles said that the beating was covered up by two guards and then dismissed as “no concern” by their supervisor, according to a the civil rights complaint. The incident happened  two years ago at Mountain View Youth Services Center in Lakewood.

None of those employees were terminated following the incident, although one of them “left employment in October 2023” for reasons unrelated to the case, according to Colorado Division of Youth Services spokesperson, Heidi Bauer. 

Chiles, 22, said that a Defendant Program Manager named Michael “Big Mike” Robinson punched him in the nose for refusing an order and asking to speak with a supervisor.

“There was blood everywhere,” Chiles said Thursday.

The complaint alleges, that Robinson then brought him into his bedroom where there were no surveillance cameras to record what happened next. Once the door was partially closed, Robinson “grabbed my neck with two hands and then he slammed me to the ground. He had his knee on my chest,” while “another guard shut the door and kept watch,” Chiles said in an interview The Denver Gazette.

The beating continued even though Chiles was crying.

“I was telling him I can’t breathe,” he said. “I was scared. I didn’t know what was going on. For this to be a place where I’m supposed to be safe at a time where I’m in their care.”

The lawsuit states that defendant Program Manager Brad Nestil, who is White, guarded the bedroom door so that Chiles had no way to escape and in an effort to shield the view of the assault from two Black guards.

Mountain View Youth Services Center defendant Program Managers Robinson, Nestel and their supervisor, defendant Director Tim Lemuz are being sued personally, Chiles’ attorney Mari Newman said.

After viewing video footage of the beginning of the incident, which did not include the bedroom beating, Lemuz wrote that there were “no concerns” according to a Colorado Department of Human Services Incident Report obtained by The Denver Gazette.

The morning after the beating, after being denied an attorney or a phone call to his mother, Chiles called the Department of Human Services Youth Hotline to report the incident.

Later on that day, one of the guards who was able to get a view of the beating from a window near the guarded door told Lemuz what happened.

Jhamele Robinson, who is Black and has children, said that he “could not stay silent” about what he had witnessed and wanted to prevent Mike Robinson “from having the opportunity to brutalize other Black youth in the future,” the complaint stated.

The complaint alleges excessive force, failure to intervene, failure to train and supervise and equal protection because “if Frankie were not Black, this would not have happened,” explained Newman.

Chiles was serving five years for driving the getaway car in an aggravated robbery when he was 16-years-old. He was released from MVYSC a month after the incident on his 21st birthday.

“I was really a young juvenile who was influenced. I was asked to be a driver. I served my sentence and did what I was supposed to do,” he said.

Today Chiles has a job and wants to make something of himself having “had no police contact and no troubles.” 

In an email, Bauer said that Michael Robinson and Jhamele Robinson (no relation) are still employed by the state’s Division of Youth Services, but that Taylor Lemuz resigned in October 2023 for reasons unrelated to the January case. 

Gazette partner 9News reported that Nestel is also still employed by the department. 

Bauer added that “the Division did not make any changes to policy following the January incident” involving Chiles. 

In a separate email statement from the Colorado Department of Human Services, officials said that the department does not comment on pending litigation.

“We can, however, affirm that our utmost focus and commitment is on ensuring the well-being and safety of the youth under our care. Any concerns that conflict with this commitment are thoroughly investigated internally and by the county Department of Human Services and/or local law enforcement.”

Chiles, said he’s speaking out and has started the civil suit in hopes that Colorado’s correctional system will hire guards whom youth inmates can trust.

“There need to be people in these facilities who really care,” he said.