The lawsuit says the arrest delayed medical treatment, causing permanent disability.
Cheryl Rhines was driving to work in October 2017 when New Jersey state trooper Jennifer Albuja pulled her over. Rhines began to suffer from a stroke, which Albuja interpreted as driving while under the influence. When Rhines failed to respond to the trooper’s commands, Rhines was placed in handcuffs and brought to jail.
The lawsuit says it was 8 a.m. on a weekday, and Rhines was wearing business attire. No open containers were in the car, and there was no report of any suspicious smells. She didn’t have a criminal record either, reported the New Jersey Monitor.
Two and a half hours went by before a Sergeant at the station called an EMT. Rhines stayed cuffed and shackled to the floor when medical personnel arrived. When Rhines received medical treatment for the stroke, she was in the hospital for two weeks and spent a month in physical rehabilitation.
Because of the delay in treatment for the stroke, Rhines now suffers from permanent brain damage that rendered her unable to speak or understand what is being said to her. As a result, she can’t work and lives with her mother – who filed a lawsuit against the state.
“Her work life and her abilities to live as a normal human being are over,” said Rhine’s lawyer, Dennis M. Donnelly.
The Rhines family won millions after the officer failed to identify stroke symptoms
Donnelly represented Rhines in court and argued the officer’s inappropriate response to stroke symptoms was due to the department’s “us-versus-them militaristic mentality,” and treated Rhies “like she as a criminal when she was helpless.”
Now that she’s permanently disabled, when the officer could have driven her to the hospital which was just five minutes away from the traffic stop, her life was put on pause. Donnelly argued to a jury that the state owes the family compensation.
The state initially offered to settle for $1 million, but Donnelly argued the medical expenses were more than that, and argued for $19.1 million. This, he said, was to cover any future medical expenses, emotional distress, and loss of income.
The state said the officer didn’t cause the stroke, but admitted to the delay resulting in her disability, and settled for $11.5 million.
