$80,000 Award for New York Prisoner Injured During Scuffle with Guard

by David Reutter

A New York Court of Claims awarded $80,000 to a prisoner for injuries sustained after a confrontation between the prisoner and a guard.

On November 14, 2008, following a court appearance, prisoner Samuel Saunders, then 62, returned to the Great Meadow Correctional Facility and was escorted by a guard to the 6-7 company. It was undisputed that Saunders and the guard had a disagreement over Saunders’ cell assignment on the second floor.

Saunders had numerous health conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease, non-healing wounds on his feet, and asthma. Medical had issued Saunders a “flats order,” which required him to be housed on the first floor. He was required to carry the order with him at all times, but during the disagreement with the guard about second-floor housing, Saunders was unable to present the order.

It was hotly disputed at trial as to what occurred after Saunders failed to obey two direct orders move into his second floor cell. Saunders, whose testimony the court found to be “unreliable, inconsistent, exaggerated, contrived and otherwise not creditworthy,” claimed guard Kory Copeland “sucker punched” him and that an “army” of guards arrived “to brutally attack him, kicking, stomping, and punching him while he was on the floor in front of the stairs.”

Copeland, whose testimony the court found to be credible, claimed Saunders kicked him from the second step after he grabbed the handrail. They grappled and Saunders hit a desk before they landed on the floor. Copeland said that he struggled with Saunders to handcuff him.

The scuffle resulted in numerous injuries to Saunders that were severe enough to send him to a local hospital, where he remained for five days. The court found no liability as to Saunders’ injuries, except a comminuted fracture of Saunders’ right humerus. The court said that the injury was not explained by Copeland’s description of the physical struggle to subdue Saunders.

The evidence shows the “right humerus was intact until after the handcuffs were applied.” Copeland testified that at the end of the struggle, [Saunders] continued to resist during the handcuffing process while prone on the floor, and that ‘[i]t took a lot for me to pull his arms out and then apply the restraint to one wrist and then hold it there and then pull the other one out and apply the other [cuff] to it.”

Having found liability, the court found Saunders endured a painful healing process and permanent injury. On December 21, 2012, the court awarded Saunders, who was represented by attorney Robert Dembia, $70,000 for past pain and suffering, $10,000 for future pain and suffering, and recovery of the filing fee. See: Saunders v. New York, New York Court of Claims, UID No. 2012-038-113, Claim No. 117969.

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