AELE LAW LIBRARY OF CASE SUMMARIES:
Corrections Law for
Jails, Prisons and Detention Facilities
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Dogs
In a case where a man died
in jail after having previously being bitten by a police dog, his family was
entitled to sue the jail staff for the death, according to a federal trial
court’s ruling. The decedent had been hiding in a lake after
committing an armed robbery at a convenience store. Police sent in a dog, and
during the struggle, the man was bitten on his hands and legs. He was first
admitted to a public hospital, and later taken to the county jail’s
infirmary. During his time in jail, his health deteriorated, and he died four
days after his arrest. According to an autopsy, the bite on one of his legs led
to an E.coli infection, which led to a fatal blood infection. Officially, he
died of “septic shock with HIV as a likely contributing factor.”
His parents filed a lawsuit against the jail’s medical director, four
nurses, and the county alleging that their son’s worsening medical
condition was ignored as a result of the “culture of neglect” at
the facility. The plaintiffs later removed three of the nurses and the county from
the lawsuit. The trial judge stated that the medical director examined the
detainee, “an HIV-positive patient with a severe dog-bite wound and
deliberately declined to play an active role in his subsequent
treatment.” This, if true, was the "very essence of deliberate
indifference," which is why he allowed the case to proceed. An appeal is
pending. Bryant v. Orange County, Fla., #6:17-cv-142, 2019 U.S. Dist. Lexis 69121, 2019 WL 1787490 (M.D.
Fla.).
A prisoner who alleged that he
was bitten by a dog under the control of a correctional officer while in a
California youth detention facility could file a late notice of claim against
the defendant government entities and employees when the failure to do so was
based on "excusable neglect," specifically a legal secretary's
mistaken removal of the claim filing deadline from an office calendar. Renteria
v. Juvenile Justice Dept. of Corrections, No. C049717, 37 Cal. Rptr. 3d 777
(Cal. App. 3d Dist. 2006). [N/R]