False Arrest as Cause of Death

Even the District Attorney said it wasn't a crime. He was sick and the police arrested him anyway. The Sheriff threw him in jail for the weekend relying upon a Doctor's release requiring a fixed supplemental level of oxygen. He did not survive the weekend. It was up to a crusty old attorney in this wrongful death lawsuit against two Big Law Firm attorneys defending the Police and Sheriff, arguing qualified immunity. Would his widow, Jenna Brody, receive justice from a hostile jury?

The Sheriff wanted arrests made on Friday night or Saturday morning, because the person arrested, regardless of guilt, would spend the weekend in jail before the Court reopened on Monday. Jenna Brody's husband was too sick to register in person as a sex offender for an offense committed 45 years earlier when he was young. He tried to register from home, because he was bedridden, but that was not allowed. He was arrested for failing to register, even though failing to register was required to be "willful" to constitute a crime. He was removed from his home after the arrest by ambulance. The jail's correctional officers accommodated his need for supplemental oxygen by providing an oxygen concentrator, but positioned it outside his reach from his bed. No one monitored his use of oxygen or his deteriorating condition. He died before the Court reopened on Monday from lack of oxygen. His widow filed a wrongful death lawsuit and hired a crusty old attorney to try the case before a jury. The Police and Sheriff were represented by Big Law Firms with unlimited resources. The jury pool was lopsidedly full of law enforcement officers or their family members. Would the widow prevail given the long odds?

Simon Sayles is a pen name used to protect anonymity.