Inmate's untreated, fatal stroke results in $1 million settlement by Hillsborough sheriff [Tampa]

Tampa Bay Times ^ | July 6, 2013 | Peter Jamison

[deks]

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and the private company that provides medical care to county prisoners paid $1 million in a wrongful-death settlement this year to the children of a Tampa man who spent approximately 36 hours in jail without treatment while suffering a fatal stroke.

Allen Daniel Hicks Sr., 51, was found stopped in his car on the side of Interstate 275 by a sheriff's deputy and a Florida Highway Patrol trooper the morning of May 11, 2012. Passers-by had called 911 after they saw Hicks' Chevy Cavalier swerving west into a guardrail, records of the incident show.

Speaking incoherently and unable to move his left arm, Hicks was arrested on a charge of obstructing a law enforcement officer when he did not respond to commands to exit his car. Just after noon, he was booked into the Orient Road Jail.

Hicks did not receive a medical screening, but was put in a cell where he lay facedown on the floor or tried to crawl using the one working side of his body. On the night of May 12, soaked in his own urine, his brain choked of blood, he was at last taken to Tampa General Hospital and diagnosed with an ischemic stroke. He slipped into a coma and died within three months.

[deks]

Know the signs and symptoms of stroke.

Spot A Stroke

[BipolarBob]

This what happens when you transition from protect and serve into revenue agents.

[bigheadfred]

this is what happens when you are stasi

[KarlInOhio]

This what happens when you transition from protect and serve into revenue agents.

Still, the revenue agents should receive enough training to recognize that a stroke victim is an expense rather than a source of revenue and stick him in a hospital before booking him and risk getting stuck with either the medical or lawsuit bill. < /I wish it was sarcasm>

[Venturer]

This is crazy. I don’t know why the people who provide medical attention at the jail got sued, The Ambulance should have been called at the accident scene.

The arresting officer must be a mental deficient.

I see about ten people in the video, they all should be looking for anew job.

[RightGeek]

I’m surprised they only got a million bucks

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Speaking incoherently and unable to move his left arm, Hicks was arrested on a charge of obstructing a law enforcement officer when he did not respond to commands to exit his car.

I'd hope that if I suffered a stroke while driving and was forced to stop, a police officer might help me - I seem to remember some TV motto about "protect and serve". But apparently you're expected to obey all "commands" issued by police even if you're having a stroke or risk being thrown in a jail cell to crawl face down for days. Gross incompetence - of course it's not fair to judge all law enforcement by such stories, but there are far too many such stories about police who seem to think their job is to "command" and intimidate instead of serving and protecting.

[bigheadfred]

I was headed for work one morning and there was a car weaving towards me followed by a cop. I pulled over and waited. They finally went off my side of the road and stopped on the adjacent railroad embankment up by the tracks. The cop jumped out of his car and went running up to the driver door. He pulled his night stick and was catching some serious air jumping up and swinging down trying to break the drivers window, he tried several times. Then he tried the door. And pulled the guy out and cuffed him. I found out later the driver was having a seizure.

[Slings and Arrows]

Reminds me of the quadriplegic in Ceorgia who got dumped out his wheelchair because he “refused” the jailer’s command to stand up. No, I’m not joking.

[mistfree]

The laws need to be changed! The bar for charging “obstruction of a law enforcement officer” needs to be raised. Make the charge much harder to apply and make the LEO personally responsible if the charge is dismissed, for any reason. It is being used by LEO’s whenever they can’t trump up some other more plausible charge. They need to be held responsible. Sue a few of them and the rest will not be so cavalier. Need I say Consent of the governed?

[jocon307]

“There is no doubt in my mind,” [the Sheriff’s Office attorney] wrote, “that if plaintiff’s claims were presented to a jury, plaintiff would receive a judgment against HCSO in amounts that far exceed $200,000.”

You are right about that, Madam.

[bicyclerepair]

Revenue collector$ only care about ONE thing.

[heartwood]

Hate to say this, but nice cluster of white people watching a sick black man and doing nothing.

Recently in town we had a similar case - elderly white woman couldn’t drive, couldn’t get out of the car. She had the good sense to have a seizure then and there so we could see she was really sick. Except that everyone, police and EMTs assumed she was sick from the start and treated her well.

Peer pressure - someone decides the guy is malingering and everyone goes along with it. The paramedics and nurses - I would not want to be them, either to have this on my conscience, or to have my license deservedly at risk.

Diabetic emergencies are another illness that get mistaken for intoxication or “non-compliance” resulting in failing to treat and death.

[deks]

It's good to remember these warning signs in case someone is beginning to have a stroke, as time lost before treatment can mean increased loss of brain function.

Face Drooping – Does one side of the face droop or is it numb? Ask the person to smile. Is the person's smile uneven?

Arm Weakness - Is one arm weak or numb? Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?

Speech Difficulty – Is speech slurred? Is the person unable to speak or hard to understand? Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence, like "The sky is blue." Is the sentence repeated correctly?

Time to call 9-1-1 – If someone shows any of these symptoms, even if the symptoms go away, call 9-1-1 and get the person to the hospital immediately. Check the time so you'll know when the first symptoms appeared.

Other Signs and Symptoms of Stroke You Should Know

• Sudden numbness or weakness of the leg

• Sudden confusion or trouble understanding

• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes

• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination

• Sudden severe headache with no known cause

[autumnraine]

SAME EXACT THING HAPPENED TO MY DAD! He was just coasting on the highway and the cops tapped him into a ditch. He was unresponsive and they assumed he was drunk. Thank GOD one of the cops was not an idiot and called an ambulance and it saved his life.

[blueunicorn6]

Wasn’t Hillary Clinton having strokes like this? She can’t pass the physical to be the President. Sorry, but that’s a fact.

[BerryDingle]

Reminds me of the quadriplegic in Ceorgia who got dumped out his wheelchair because he “refused” the jailer’s command to stand up. No, I’m not joking.

This is the same jail. This is also the same sheriff's dept. that beat a woman in the hospital parking lot for speeding. Her father was inside after a heart attack and she pulled her car forward while the idiot deputy was on his car radio after stopping her. The deputy sergeant arrived, watched and never intervened. The woman was desperate to see her father in the emergency room.

[BradyLS]

I’m surprised they only got a million bucks

Probably all that was left in the budget.

[PLMerite]

“I don’t know why the people who provide medical attention at the jail got sued...”

Because they didn’t do their job, which was to screen incoming prisoners. Anybody who looked into that cell and saw him in distress should be fired, sued, and prosecuted.

[Mears]

I had the exact type of stroke a year ago,arm and speech.

Of course I got immediate care and that made all the difference in the world.