Lawsuit: Ramsey County corrections officers broke woman's leg, denied her medical care for 17 hours
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- A woman who suffered "catastrophic disfigurement" to her leg due to an alleged unconstitutional takedown while she was detained in Ramsey County Jail has filed a federal lawsuit seeking $20 million for compensation and punitive damages.
Miri Mozuch-Stafford says she was denied medical treatment for 17 hours, during which time she writhed in pain due to a broken leg, severed artery, compartment syndrome and ischemia. The "deliberate, reckless, and malicious" takedown, along with denial of medical care are in violation of her constitutional rights, documents say.
The lawsuit names Ramsey County, along with corrections officers Thomas Kunkel, Lauren Arnevik, Olivia Rezac, Domonik Stanton, Melissa Hildebrandt, and Mohamud Salad, as well as the jail's doctor Michele Van Vranken.
Read the lawsuit:
Mozuch-Stafford, a nursing assistant, was arrested on Feb. 8, 2021 due to alleged disorderly conduct at a hotel in St. Paul. She was arrested without incident and did not display medical concerns before she was taken to a holding cell in Ramsey County Jail.
There, she got into a verbal altercation with four corrections officers, who then used a "disorganized and unreasonable takedown maneuver" to pull and push her in different directions. She was injured and immediately screamed and pain, but the lawsuit says that three of the officers continued to manipulate and twist her legs into shackles.
"Immediately after the takedown you can hear her screaming in pain, her leg, she can't move her leg," said Attorney Rich Student.
"They don't seem to care, they're very indifferent about it, they're nonchalant as if they didn't believe her or they didn't take it seriously," said Attorney Steve Meshbesher, who brought the case against Ramsey County along with Student.
She was injured around 3:55 a.m. and around 4:15 a.m., an unidentified person entered the cell and looked at her legs, and then left the cell. Mozuch-Stafford's inmate log notes that she was "evaluated by the nurse for foot pain" but no further medical treatment was requested for her, the lawsuit states.
Minutes later, two other corrections officers dragged her across the floor to the wall. Her shackles were removed around 5:15 a.m.
Shortly after noon, Van Vranken entered the cell to examine Mozuch-Stafford. According to the complaint, Van Vranken noted that her left leg was swollen by roughly 5 inches compared to the right, but did not direct anyone to transport Mozuch-Stafford to a hospital.
She was eventually transported to Regions Hospital around 9:30 p.m., and went through multiple surgeries to save her left leg, which now is permanently weak and unstable, according to the lawsuit.
A month-long treatment at the hospital cost $360,000 and the lawsuit says Mozuch-Stafford suffered emotional distress and loss of earning potential, as she will be partially or totally unable to perform her previous role as a nursing assistant.
"A lot of this injury was avoidable, had they just done their job correctly," said Meshbesher.
As a result, the lawsuit is seeking $10,360,000 in compensatory damages and an additional $10 million in punitive damages.
Ramsey County says it will not comment on pending litigation.
