Drunken woman who fell off chair can sue Belmar cops

BELMAR A woman who pounded double-vodka cocktails at 7 a.m. and then repeatedly fell off a chair at police headquarters can proceed with a lawsuit against officers who arrested her for drunken driving, an appellate panel has ruled.

The woman, Linda Leone, claims that Patrolman Michael R. Allen and Sgt. Sean R. Pringle failed to exercise reasonable care over her while she was in their custody, and that as a result, she suffered a broken hip after repeatedly falling off a chair while waiting to take a breath test.

Leone admitted she had four drinks of vodka and orange juice, each with double shots of liquor, at a nearby bar between 7 a.m. and 7:50 a.m. on April 22, 2010, before getting in her car and ultimately being arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, according to court papers. Leone claimed she was “highly intoxicated’’ while in police custody, the court papers said.

A Superior Court judge in Monmouth County previously threw out Leone’s lawsuit, saying the police officers were immune from liability under provisions of the state’s Tort Claims Act.

But Judges Mitchel E. Ostrer and Michael J. Haas of the Appellate Division of Superior Court overturned the lower-court ruling and said earlier this month that Leone’s suit against the police can move forward.

"This is completely ridiculous and a waste of taxpayers' dollars that we have to defend the police officers in this lawsuit,'' said Mayor Matthew Doherty. "If she can sue over this, where is the line? People have to take responsibility for their own actions."



The lower court cited a provision in the Tort Claims Act that says “a public employee is not liable if he acts in good faith in the execution or enforcement of any law.’’

But Ostrer and Haas, in an opinion dated Oct. 1 and made public last week, said police do not have blanket immunity for all of their activities.

“Instead, we adopted the view that the immunity attaches only where the police are acting under heightened circumstances, including responding to a crime, accident or emergency in progress, or where they are called upon to make split-second decisions,’’ the appellate judges wrote in their opinion.

They noted that the state Supreme Court has affirmed that “the police’s duty of care to an arrestee requires the exercise of reasonable care to preserve the life, health and safety of the person in custody.’’

The appellate decision described the events that led to Leone’s lawsuit.

After having the four double-vodka drinks that morning, she got into a car, and police soon received a call about someone driving “very erratically,’’ it said.

When Allen found Leone, her car was stopped on the side of the road, with the engine off but the transmission still in drive, the appellate ruling noted.

Allen detected a strong odor of alcohol and “characterized plaintiff’s speech as ‘substantially slurred,’ ‘incoherent,’ and ‘slobbering,’ ’’ the appellate judges noted.

Leone was unable to step out of the vehicle on her own, and she failed field sobriety tests, the court papers said. She sobbed while being driven to the police station, they said.

Once there, Leone was placed in a metal folding chair, which she fell out of when Allen’s back was turned as he filled out paperwork, the court decision said.

Allen and Pringle, who was nearby, helped her back into the chair, but she soon fell out of it again, the judges noted. Allen wrote in a report that Leone fell off the chair several times, and Pringle said she fell twice but told the officers she was “OK,’’ according to the appellate court decision.

“Ultimately, the officers placed the plaintiff on the floor, where she fell asleep, and had to be awakened for administration of the Alcotest (breath test),’’ the court papers said. “After she repeatedly sucked on the mouthpiece, instead of blowing into it, she was charged with refusal.’’

Leone had no memory of the arrest or of falling and was released from custody that afternoon, the judges said. Two days later, she sought treatment at Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch, they said. She had multiple fractures of her hip for which she required surgery, they said.

She later claimed in a lawsuit filed in April 2012 that Allen and Pringle failed to exercise reasonable care of her, that the borough and its police department negligently hired and trained officers and failed to provide proper equipment to assure the safety of a highly intoxicated arrestee, and that the absence of such equipment created a dangerous condition.

The lower court judge threw out an expert report presented on Leone’s behalf. The expert said the officers could have used various means employed by hospital personnel to safeguard patients from falling out of beds, such as wristlets or cloth material, to restrain Leone in the chair. The expert said the officers should have examined Leone after each fall from the chair. The expert, however, failed to cite any outside authorities or guidelines in support of his opinion.

The appellate judges affirmed the lower court’s exclusion of the expert’s report.

Kathleen Hopkins: (732)643-4202; Khopkins@app.com