During the time allotted for public comment in Wenatchee’s city council meeting on Oct. 23, a man named Paul Torres came up to the stand to present his statement to the city council.

Torres approached the council with what he called an attempted murder in the Wenatchee jail. Torres continued to speak and shared his story.

“I was cuffed,” he said. “I had something punctured in my back.” He went on to note the repercussions of what happened. Torres claimed that he has no feeling to his feet, his hands are turning blue, and he is fighting something that was injected in him. He also says that in the meantime of this incident, he had to drink his urine for one year and six months due to a lack of water provided by the jail.

The alleged attacks were committed by prison officers.

Torres, after finishing recounting the events of his alleged attempted murder, details his journey with mental health professionals, noting that he waited so long to recount his story so he wouldn’t be accused of being mentally unstable.

“[The jail] broke a lot of constitutional rights,” Torres said. Now he appears here, before the council requesting footage of the cell he was in as he doesn’t know who else to turn to.

Torres recently went semi-viral on social media after posting his speech to the Wenatchee City Council on TikTok. Viewers of the video empathized with Torres relating their own local stories to his.

“The cops in this town suck,” one commenter said.

“This sounds like a 90 million [dollar] lawsuit,” another said.

While most commenters sympathized with Torres, some noted that they had never heard of him or this case. Torres’ story is under investigation as he attempts to retrieve the files from his cell to use as evidence against the jail.