Posted on 12/31/2013 6:22:25 PM PST by null and void
A Pittsburgh woman is suing authorities after she had to have her arm amputated because police officers used excessive force while they arrested her and refused to give her access to a doctor.
The mother-of-three, Amy Needham, 35, of Ross, says the officers entered her home to execute an arrest warrant for failing to show up to a preliminary hearing.
When sheriff's office employees arrived, Needham said she was using the bathroom, but they broke down the bathroom door.
Rough arrest: Police officers shocked Amy Needham, 35, with a Taser, applied arm bars and wrist locks, and put on handcuffs 'that were too tight' before taking her to Allegheny County Jail
According to her attorney, Marvin Leibowitz, the tight handcuffs caused her to suffer compartment syndrome, a limb- and life-threatening condition that occurs after an injury.
Leibowitz says while Needham sat in jail, she made 16 requests to see a doctor for treatment but was denied.
They never sent her a doctor. Never took her to the doctor. She developed a septic shock and she almost died and they had to take off her arm
Asked for help: The victim's attorney, Marvin Leibowitz, says while Needham sat in jail she made 16 requests to see a doctor for treatment which were denied
Needham, who had previously worked in a restaurant, is now waiting for a prosthesis.
I think shes been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. She doesnt have an arm. How is she going to get a job?
Deputies had arrested her for failing to show up at a preliminary hearing on a charge that was eventually reduced to disorderly conduct.
She is now suing the deputies in question and the Allegheny County Jail and seeks $75,000 in damages.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Doesn’t really matter now does it. She will get awarded lots of tax payer dollars because of a few stupid cops. Oh and she lost an arm.
There are valid reasons why a person might miss the preliminary trial, having to go to,your job or face being fired are just one of those reasons or perhaps she didn’t have transportation.
Not everybody has the means to deal with the legal system as they should and, considering just how out of 1984 the government is becoming, as a Freeper we should be a bit more understanding since any one of us, who love freedom, are now basically considered enemies of the state.
We’ll have to check back in on this story later on and see how it turns out. $75K for losing an arm? Police needlessly using excessive violence to bring a cooperative citizen in? Jail authorities withholding medical treatment? Something sounds very fishy and regardless, none of it would have happened had she simply showed up in court like she was supposed to.
I'm sure they had their reasons. Having them doesn't make them legally valid or their force level acceptable; nor do their reasons trump our rights.
It's not about the injuries incurred during arrest, it's about the medical neglect while in custody that has cooked their goose.
I never intended to defend the police or justice system in this thread. If the story is accurate (a big IF in my opinion), the lady was mistreated—horribly so. However, something doesn’t pass the smell test.
I also agree with your point of view that maybe she had a valid reason for not showing up to the preliminary hearing. The story was surprisingly short of pertinent details. We shouldn’t be rushing to condemn her (and I wasn’t), nor should we rush to condemn the police until we hear more.
She wouldn’t have lost her arm if the cops did their jobs.
Valpal1: “Having them doesn’t make them legally valid or their force level acceptable; nor do their reasons trump our rights.”
Nor does it make their reasons legally invalid, and if she refused to peacefully submit, the police have a legal right to use whatever level of force is necessary to take her into custody. How do we know she didn’t fight back? The story is entirely from her point of view.
None of which explains the lack of medical care.
There are no valid reasons for that.
$75,000? - Why not 75 Million?
I hope everyone here gets the pertinent message here, without anyone having to voice it.
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I wasn’t trying to be harsh with you :), but I find that some Freepers have little knowledge as to badly damaged some people are in America today and believe that if you keep hitting borderline people hard enough, fast enough, and often enough, they will eventually straighten out their life.
I’m convinced that some of these borderline personalities were once children of Freepers. :)
You always find a way to make us want to vomit!
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When circulation is cut toxins build up in the limb, then it causes the septic condition which led to the amputation.
Satan’s little helper!
You’ve done well today.
The injury and how it happened is immaterial to the fact that they failed to treat it for a week and then she had to have an emergency amputation.
Hello, the problem was not the arrest, injuries happen all the time during arrests. It’s the failure to treat while in custody that has them by the short hairs.
That is the part they cannot slide by or blame on the victim’s behavior.
I ticked one off today
I was going into a courthouse, showed my bar card and started to go through
he about jumped out of his skin and said no you still have to scan everything
your bar card only gets your electronic device in
I said oh yeah I remember you telling me that exact thing the last time
but my electronic device didn’t take the bar exam
he looked evilly at me
>> “What caused that?” <<
.
Interruption of the oxygen normally supplied by blood flow.
“How about we insist on hiring actual human beings as police officers?”
SOrry, actual human beings won’t work as police officers.
>> “What particular point have I made here that makes you want to vomit?” <<
Your all too often expressed disdain for the victim of tyranny.
It doesn’t appear to me that anyone else found your cute little admonition to be any more acceptable than I did.
There are times when it would be better to remain silent.
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