Attorney: FBI probing woman's abuse allegation against Ramsey County jail
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Federal agents are investigating a 2021 incident that allegedly injured a woman in the Ramsey County jail, her attorneys said.
Richard Student, who represents Miri Monique Mozuch-Stafford, said she was arrested by St. Paul police in February 2021 following an alleged disorderly conduct incident at a local hotel.
The federal lawsuit filed by Student alleges that while she was handcuffed behind her back, Mozuch-Stafford was subjected to a “take down” by a group of jail staff, breaking her leg. The lawsuit says medical staff failed to send her quickly to nearby Regions Hospital, leaving her permanently disfigured and disabled.
Student’s law partner, Steve Meshbesher, said a federal victim’s advocate sent a letter Jan. 17, saying the Department of Justice and the FBI were investigating a possible crime against their client.
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“Based on the conversations I've had with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minneapolis, and an FBI agent that's investigating, they made it clear that it’s about the facts that are set forth in our federal complaint,” Student said in an interview with MPR News. He declined to provide the letter.
Student also said his office had provided jail surveillance video to federal investigators, but also declined to release the video.
An FBI spokesperson, in response on an inquiry about the case, said the agency could neither confirm or deny any criminal investigation they are working on.
Ramsey County, in a court filing, denied wrongdoing in the case, including by corrections and medical staff. The county did say that Mozuch-Stafford was left in her cell for nearly nine hours after an initial medical examination at around 4 a.m. before she was examined again.
The county said in its response that following an afternoon exam, she received an X-ray that confirmed a broken bone in her leg. Her lawyers say she was transported to nearby Regions Hospital at around 9:30 p.m.
A spokesperson for Ramsey County said the county does not discuss pending litigation or investigations.
The county has a recent history of trouble at the jail.
It agreed to pay a $525,000 settlement in 2019 with another inmate, Terrell Wilson, who alleged he was assaulted by Ramsey County jail staff following an arrest in 2016.
Last week, Minnesota Department of Corrections officials ordered the jail to reduce its population from about 380 to 324, saying inspectors had found repeated incidents of delays or failures by jail staff to provide medical care to inmates at the jail.
The order said that the facility, built to hold 500 people securely, could not adequately care for the people it was holding with the staff on hand. The state order followed complaints by the county’s own public health department that the jail was not attending to the medical needs of some inmates.
Jails around Minnesota have drawn increased scrutiny. The death of Hardel Sherrell in the Beltrami County jail in 2018 is the subject of a federal investigation as well as a federal lawsuit.
The attorneys for Mozuch-Stafford allege their client also suffered neglect by jailers.
“She was placed in handcuffs and leg shackles for a significant period of time,” Student said.
“They eventually did take the leg shackles off, but they did not provide any medical care for approximately 17 hours. And she was in severe pain, she had severe swelling. And it's our allegation that the correctional officers and medical personnel there knew about that and failed to take action.”
He said she suffered compartment syndrome, related to inflammation in her leg.
The case is currently making its way through evidence discovery, with a tentative trial date for early next year.
Meshbesher said his firm was also preparing a complaint for the family of another Ramsey County inmate, 37-year-old Dillon Bakke, who had been arrested for drug possession and had a head injury when he got to the jail last August.
Meshbesher said jail staff failed to provide timely medical care in his case, as well, and Bakke suffered a stroke and died soon after at Regions Hospital.
Student said inmates were entitled to and deserved better care, whatever their legal issues.
“The 14th Amendment requires, in the context of pretrial detainees, that their serious known medical conditions be taken care of by the jail where they are,” Student said. “If the correctional officers or medical staff at the jail know about a serious medical condition and are deliberately indifferent to it, that is a violation of the 14th Amendment.”
