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COMPLAINT AND JURY DEMAND

COMPLAINT

Plaintiffs state:

Common Allegations

1. This action arises under 42 USC 1983. Jurisdiction is conferred by 28 USC 1331, 1343(a)(3), (4).

2. Plaintiffs are spouses and residents of the town of ____________, ____________ County, Michigan.

3. Defendant [individual Defendant 1] is a resident of the town of ____________, ____________ County, Michigan, and at all material times was employed by the ____________ County Sheriff’s Department as a deputy sheriff.

4. Defendant [individual Defendant 2] is a resident of the town of ____________, ____________ County, Michigan, and at all material times was employed by the ____________ County Sheriff’s Department as a deputy sheriff.

5. When the events alleged in this complaint occurred, Defendant deputies were acting within the scope of their employment and under color of law.

6. At all material times, Defendant ____________ County employed both Defendant deputies and is liable for their acts. The county is also liable because of its policies, practices, and customs, which lead to this complaint of violation.

7. On [date], at or about ____________ P.M., on Highway M-__ near its intersection with ____________ Road in the town of ____________, ____________ County, Plaintiff ____________ was attempting to negotiate his motorcycle around a curve. He lost control, skidded onto the left side of the bike, hit the curb, and was violently thrown to the ground. The accident caused massive neurologic damage to his right upper extremity; a right humerus segmental fracture; right both-bone forearm fracture; left both-bone forearm fracture, with radial neuropathy; a large abrasion on his left buttock; and a severance of the right brachial artery.

8. Immediately after this accident, Defendant deputies responded to the accident and, despite observing Plaintiff ____________’s condition and communicating with him, initiated a call for EMT assistance by communicating “biker down, broken arm, no big hurry.”

9. The rescue squad received the dispatch at ____________ P.M. and arrived at the scene at ____________ P.M. At that time, the rescue squad immediately assessed Plaintiff ____________’s condition as “life threatening” and recorded findings of “slow capillary refill for the right arm, an inability to get vitals, and [Plaintiff ____________’s] complaint that he had no feeling in his right arm.”

10. Despite the life threatening nature of Plaintiff ____________’s injuries, the rescue squad did not leave the scene until ____________ P.M. Upon information and belief, this delay was caused because Defendant deputies wanted to secure a blood sample at the scene before Plaintiff ____________ was transported to ____________ County Memorial Hospital, despite the fact that a sampling was immediately available at the hospital.

11. Upon information and belief, Defendant deputies contacted a local nurse to come to the scene to extract blood, and Plaintiff ____________ waited in the ambulance for the nurse’s arrival.

12. Upon information and belief, Plaintiff ____________ continued to wait while the nurse attempted five different times, unsuccessfully, to secure blood despite applying tourniquets to both arms.

13. After Defendant deputies were unsuccessful in their efforts to secure a blood sample, they allowed the ambulance to depart at ____________ P.M. At ____________ P.M., it arrived at the hospital, where Plaintiff ____________’s medical condition was stabilized and surgery was completed. Because of the delay in obtaining medical attention, the arm could not be saved and an above-elbow amputation was performed on Plaintiff ____________’s right arm on [date].

Count I Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment Violations

14. Plaintiffs incorporate by reference paragraphs 1 through 13.

15. Plaintiff ____________’s constitutionally protected rights that Defendant deputies violated include the following:

a. his right to liberty protected in the substantive component of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which includes personal safety, freedom from captivity, and right to medical care and protection

b. his right to fair and equal treatment guaranteed and protected by the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment

16. Defendant deputies, acting under color of state law, took Plaintiff ____________ into physical police custody, not allowing his transfer by medical personnel to the hospital. In doing so, they established a special custodial relationship with Plaintiff ____________, giving rise to affirmative duties on their part to secure for him the constitutionally protected rights identified above.

17. Defendant deputies’ violation of their affirmative duties, their intervention in preventing Plaintiff ____________’s transfer to the hospital, and the delay caused by their desire to obtain a blood sample from him prevented others from providing Plaintiff ____________’s constitutionally protected rights when he was unable to do so himself. This situation, while Plaintiff ____________ was under Defendant deputies’ custodial control, is a direct and proximate cause of the subsequent deprivation of Plaintiff ____________’s constitutional rights described above.

18. Defendant deputies, acting under color of state law and in concert with one another, by their conduct, showed intentional, outrageous, and reckless disregard for Plaintiff ____________’s constitutional rights. Further, their actions in detaining Plaintiff ____________, given his medical condition, showed deliberate indifference to Plaintiff ____________’s serious medical needs and was a deprivation of his constitutionally protected rights.

19. Defendant deputies’ detention of the rescue personnel on the roadside for ____________ minutes was done with knowing disregard of an excessive risk to Plaintiff ____________’s health or well-being.

20. Upon information and belief, no search warrant was obtained before Defendant deputies instructed the nurse to attempt to draw a blood sample on the roadside of Highway M-____________.

21. As a direct and proximate result of Defendant deputies’ conduct, Plaintiff ____________ suffered physical and emotional injury, loss of his right arm, loss of freedom, and other constitutionally protected rights described above.

22. Defendant ____________ County’s Sheriff’s Department, acting under color of state law, authorized, tolerated, ratified, permitted, or acquiesced in the creation of policies, practices, and customs, establishing a de facto policy of deliberate indifference to individuals such as Plaintiff ____________.

23. As a direct and proximate result of these policies, practices, and customs, Plaintiff ____________ was deprived of his constitutionally protected rights described above.

PLAINTIFFS REQUEST that this court enter judgment against Defendants in an amount consistent with the damages sustained.

Count II Eighth Amendment Violations

24. Plaintiffs incorporate by reference paragraphs 1 through 23.

25. The Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides, in pertinent part, that excessive bail shall not be required nor excessive fines be imposed nor cruel and unusual punishments be inflicted.

26. Defendant deputies’ decisions (1) to detain Plaintiff ____________ on the side of the road, in an ambulance, for the sole purpose of obtaining a blood sample for blood alcohol testing, while knowing his medical condition and knowing that he could be immediately transported to the local hospital facility, and (2) to take him into their custody, creating a special relationship with him, violated Plaintiff ____________’s constitutionally protected Eighth Amendment rights by exhibiting deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs following his motorcycle accident.

27. Defendant deputies’ decision to detain Plaintiff ____________ on the side of the road in an ambulance for approximately ____________ minutes while waiting for a nurse to arrive and obtain a blood sample, which was unsuccessful anyway, showed deliberate indifference to the serious medical needs of Plaintiff ____________. This violated his constitutionally protected Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.

28. As a direct and proximate result of Defendant deputies’ actions, Plaintiff ____________ suffered physical and emotional injury, loss of his right arm, loss of freedom, and other constitutionally protected rights described above.

29. As a result of the above-described injuries to her spouse, Plaintiff ____________ was and will continue to be deprived of her spouse’s services and companionship and has and will continue to suffer a loss of consortium.

PLAINTIFFS REQUEST that this court enter judgment against Defendants in an amount consistent with the damages sustained.

| | |[Firm name] |

| | | |

|Dated: ______________________ | |By: /s/______________________ |

| | |[Typed name of attorney] (P____) |

| | |Attorney for Plaintiff |

| | |[Address, telephone] |

|[Optional jury demand.] |

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