Settlement for the family of a man who died while in police custody at a central Indiana county jail. The man was arrested for public intoxication and detained. While in a holding cell, he began to experience alcohol withdrawal which progressed to delirium tremens (DTs), a medical emergency. The man had a seizure, and the poorly trained jailers then forcibly restrained him instead of calling for medical attention. The physical restraint included being handcuffed with his arms behind his back, which caused our client to go into cardiac arrest and contributed to his unfortunate death. These actions were alleged to be violations of the our client’s civil rights, including his rights afforded under the Fourteenth Amendment. The case was settled after we conducted extensive discovery into the training practices of the jail. As part of the settlement, the jail instituted new training policies which will reduce the chance of this happening again.
