Ramsey Co. pays $3M settlement to woman in suit alleging officers broke her leg, denied medical treatment for 17 hours
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Ramsey County will pay a woman who suffered "catastrophic disfigurement" to her leg a settlement in the amount of $3 million.
The settlement was announced by the legal team retained by Miri Mozuch-Stafford, who says she was injured during an "unconstitutional takedown" while being detained at Ramsey County Jail in February 2021. She had been arrested due to alleged disorderly conduct at a hotel in St. Paul.
She was handcuffed behind her back when she was tackled to the ground, the suit said.
The suit then alleged that Mozuch-Stafford 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 suit initially sought $20 million for compensation and punitive damages, and alongside Ramsey County, also named 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.
Lawsuit details
Mozuch-Stafford was injured around 3:55 a.m. Feb. 8, 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 the lawsuit reported is now permanently weak and unstable.
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.
"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, one of the attorneys who brought the case against Ramsey County. "A lot of this injury was avoidable, had they just done their job correctly."
Read the lawsuit:
