An amputee is suing an Alabama sheriff’s department, claiming he lost his left arm from being too tightly handcuffed for hours during an arrest.
Giovanni Loyola, 28, alleged in a federal civil rights complaint that his constitutional rights against excessive force and unlawful arrest were violated after his 2020 arrest for disorderly conduct, AL.com reported.
He claimed that he asked for help loosening the cuffs after being held for several hours but that deputies with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department ignored him, according to the outlet.
Circulation in his wrist was blocked and led to the hand having to be surgically removed, claimed Loyola, of Pinson, outside Birmingham.
“It’s terrible. I don’t wish that pain on anyone,” Loyola told the outlet in a previous interview.
“It was completely unexpected. I have no words for him.”
He filed the complaint in the US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. The trial is scheduled to begin on April 15.
Loyola was arrested on February 16, 2020, while he was in his mother’s trailer watching TV, AL.com reported, citing a complaint in which officers say he ended up fighting with them.
Giovanni Loyola, 28, claimed that his constitutional rights against excessive force and unlawful arrest were violated after his 2020 arrest for disorderly conduct, according to reports. Sincerely Jon Goldfarb
Deputy Christopher Godber said in his report that he and two other deputies went to the trailer park after receiving several calls about shots fired and two men fighting.
Loyola claims she wasn’t fighting anyone and that the siblings may have just been arguing outside, according to the outlet.
He accused the deputy minister of being aggressive when opening the door.
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“Deputy Godber, without answering and without asking permission to enter the home, reached into the doorway, grabbed Plaintiff by the wrist, and jerked her outside the home and down the stairs,” the complaint reportedly states.
Loyola, who was 5-foot-5 and weighed 132 pounds at the time, claims she was rammed into a car, thrown to the ground and punched in the face.
Loyola claimed that she asked for help to loosen her handcuffs after being held for several hours but deputies ignored her, according to the outlet. Sincerely Jon Goldfarb
Godber handcuffed her tightly as she lay on the ground and said she had done nothing wrong, according to the complaint.
“(He) doesn’t know how to be a silent king,” Godber allegedly said.
Loyola pleaded for help to coordinate the cuffs but deputies ignored her, the complaint said.
Godber reported that Loyola’s speech was slurred, that she was drunk and arguing loudly with relatives in her mother’s trailer.
“Dep. Godber tries to hold back Loyola where he immediately becomes aggressive pushing Dep. Godber away,” the deputy reported to the magistrate, according to AL.com.
Loyola then fought with deputies and resisted being tied up, Godber’s report states.
He claims his request for medical treatment in prison was refused and he was later told in hospital that he needed surgery on his hand.
“(He) was found to have severe problems with blood flow to his left hand and required immediate surgery,” the complaint said.
The top three of his fingers were removed, but the hand remained so painful that he eventually underwent several surgeries and had it amputated.
A spokesperson for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office told AL.com that it does not comment on pending litigation.
Loyola was arrested on February 16, 2020, while he was in his mother’s trailer watching TV, AL.com reported, citing a complaint in which officers say he ended up fighting with them. Sincerely Jon Goldfarb
According to police experts who spoke to the outlet, serious injuries from handcuffs are rare because standard cuffs have a double locking mechanism that prevents them from tightening.
“I think it’s very rare to see something as serious as an amputation,” Ken Wallentine, a use-of-force consultant and chief of the West Jordan Police Department in Utah, told AL.com in May 2021.
He said double-locking cuffs and doing the “pinky test” — leaving a space the size of a pinky — are basic safety procedures taught in law enforcement training.
In 2013, a woman sued after losing her hand during an arrest in Pittsburgh, according to the outlet.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
