A Hispanic woman is suing the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and county administrators for what she claims was negligence and deliberate indifference to her medical needs by sheriffs, while she was imprisoned for over 40 minutes, as reported by Arizona Central.
A.C.M., 44, states that she sat in a jail cell, with a plastic garbage bag over her head, while incarcerated on February 28, 2012 and being largely ignored by her jailers due to being Hispanic.
She is asking for $6.2 million in damages.
A.C.M.'s attorney is being blamed for playing "the race card", according to Sheriff's Deputy Chief J.M., as the bag would have hidden A.C.M. from view, and therefore jailers would have been unable to identify her as Hispanic.
Chief J.M. stated that after a review of the event it was determined that A.C.M. had been using the bag to keep herself warm.
Chief J.M. said that A.C.M.'s attorney, Joy Bertrand, is "forgetting that her client was inside a trash bag and reported her name to be (a non-Hispanic surname). (Also) this is not a little plastic bag that fits snugly over the head, it's a 25- to 30-gallon plastic bag that, from everything we saw, she used to keep warm."
A.C.M. was booked into jail for suspicion of assaulting her husband. She admitted to being under the influence of prescription pills, and may have told members of the Phoenix police and fire departments that she was suicidal.
According to A.C.M., during prior visits in Maricopa county jails she told sheriff's detention staff members about adverse reactions she has had to medications. She believed that this information was in her permanent record.
The county does not have an electronic recording system to track inmates medications.
The lawsuit is citing the lack of records, as well as the U.S. Justice Department's report that the Sheriff's Office discriminates against Hispanics.
Bertrand is in the midst of another case involving the sheriff's department and an inmate that died while in custody. Bertrand said, "The first thing is that all my clients in these circumstances are Hispanic, and the next thing would be this indifference to the needs of these human beings in their custody. The jail is making a pretty consistent record that they treat their inmates worse than Joe treats his police dogs."
While in jail detention officers had determined that A.C.M. was unresponsive and summoned medical personnel for treatment. She was then transferred from her cell to a hospital. A sheriff's administrator claimed that A.C.M. was both breathing and had a pulse when she traveled to the hospital.
Chief J.M. stated that A.C.M. was released from the hospital after a brief period of time. A.C.M. also, according to Chief J.M., failed to incur any injuries.
Bertrand claims that there were enough damages that her client has endured to file a lawsuit.
Whether you are a victim of discrimination, or another form of personal injury, contact a personal injury lawyer for help. Monetary awards are often made for cases where pain and suffering have been incurred.