Man jailed 7 hours for DWI was really having stroke, Missouri suit says
.jpg "A Missouri man was arrested for driving while intoxicated but he was actually having a stroke, a federal lawsuit says.")
A Missouri man has filed a federal lawsuit after he said he was wrongfully arrested for driving while intoxicated while he was actually having a stroke.
The man and his wife filed the lawsuit on April 18 against 12 individuals employed by Greene County.
McClatchy News reached out to Greene County officials for comment May 13 but did not immediately hear back.
The lawsuit stems from an arrest made on July 21, 2022.
The man was driving from Springfield to Republic, heading to work, when he was pulled over in his job’s parking lot by a Greene County sheriff’s deputy, according to the civil complaint.
In his report, the deputy noted that the man’s car was weaving and that he suspected him of driving while intoxicated, the lawsuit said. However, the man denied using any alcohol or drugs.
The deputy had the man take a breathalyzer test and the results showed a 0.000% blood alcohol content, according to the lawsuit. During a horizontal gaze test, the man showed zero out of six indicators of intoxication, the complaint said.
However, the deputy noted that the man showed four out of eight indicators of intoxication during the walk and turn test and four out of four indicators during the one leg stand test, the lawsuit said.
The man was arrested for DWI and taken to the county jail, the complaint said. On the ride there, he was sweating profusely and his physical and mental status had declined, according to the lawsuit.
While being processed, his health was declining and he wasn’t given any medical attention, the lawsuit said. He was stumbling, falling against a wall and “confused with simple instructions,” according to the complaint.
His “speech became thicker” and “more slurred” and he “became sluggish and uncoordinated as time went on,” the lawsuit said.
At one point, he was found slumped over in a holding cell. He was asked if he knew “what is going on,” to which he responded “no,” the lawsuit said. Still, he was left in the cell alone, according to the complaint.
The man was monitored and his vitals were taken. His vitals showed a high blood pressure, and it was noted that he appeared weak, the lawsuit said.
The man’s condition worsened, according to the complaint.
Over the hours he was at the jail, he experienced “profuse sweating, drooling, slumping, slurred speech, swaying, staggering, inability to stand, inability to follow simple instructions (and) declining motor skills,” the complaint said. “His pupils were constricted and non-reactive and … he was not consistently awake, alert and oriented to person, place or time.”
Around 2 a.m., he was released from the jail and given a “courtesy” ride by deputies to a hospital, the lawsuit said. A jail officer then “lied” to hospital staff to “cover-up the true facts that he and other” employees were “indifferent to (the man’s) serious medical needs,” according to the lawsuit.
Once at the hospital, the man was diagnosed with having a cerebral stroke, the lawsuit said.
As a result of the stroke, “he is now blind and suffers from other impairments of the mind and body,” the complaint said.
He was held by authorities for over seven hours before being released and taken to a hospital, the lawsuit said. The defendants’ “intentional denial or delay in allowing (him) to access proper emergency medical care” led to his long-lasting health effects, the complaint said.
Later, the Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Lab “determined that ‘(the man’s) blood did not contain any controlled substance,’” the lawsuit said. “As a result, records indicate (the deputy) did not submit any charges to the Greene County Prosecutor’s office.”
The lawsuit is asking for an undetermined amount in damages.
This story was originally published May 13, 2025 at 5:43 PM with the headline "Man jailed 7 hours for DWI was really having stroke, Missouri suit says."
