BY ANDY TAYLOR
Montgomery County Chronicle
INDEPENDENCE — A female inmate of the Montgomery County Jail has filed a federal lawsuit against Montgomery County claiming that the use of a Taser gun against her in a 2007 incident led to the death of her unborn fetus.
Attorneys for Blanca J. Herrera filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., in October. Herrera is asking $3 million in damages.
According to the complaint filed by Herrera’s attorneys, Herrera contends that corrections officer Nick Bradford fired a Taser gun, which momentarily impairs a person through the use of electrical charges, at her after Herrera and another female inmate got in a fight in the county jail in May 2007. Herrera alleges that she was pregnant at the time of the incident. After corrections officer supervisor Debbie Colander broke up the fight and sent the other inmate to her jail cell, Colander began talking to Herrera about the incident, corrections officer Nick Bradford overrode his supervisor’s line of questioning and told her to “shut the (expletive) up.”
Herrera claims that Bradford, without provacation, fired the Taser gun at her with the projectiles hitting her in the right breast and pubic bone.
After receiving the electrical shocks, Herrera was in need of medical attention, the complaint says. She was denied medical attention for 24 hours, even though she requested to see a nurse or director, according to the complaint.
Herrera further claims that when she was finally given medical attention, the actual medical treatment was not given. As a result she suffered a severe staph infection, and her unborn child was involuntarily aborted as a result of the incident.
She also had to undergo psychological counseling due to her injuries and the loss of the unborn child.
According to the complaint, Bradford allegedly used a Taser gun on another inmate three months prior. That inmate was bound in a restraint chair. The inmate died as a result of the Taser shocks, the complaint further says, adding that Bradford remained on duty following the incident.
Herrera was never provided a grievance form or told how to file an official complaint even though she requested to file one. Instead of allowing Herrera to file the complaint, jail administrator Mario Grant “engaged in behavior to intentionally and maliciously cause distress to Blanca Herrera,” the complaint says. This includes Grant activating the trigger on his own Taser gun when he would pass by Herrera’s cell. The noise of the gun would cause it to buzz and crackle in the air, thereby causing distress to Herrera.
Herrera’s mother brought the incident to the attention of state authorities and the media.
As a retaliatory measure against Herrera, Grant was alleged to have told Herrera that her mother was a “bad girl” and proceeded to make a threat against Blanca Herrera’s mother in the presence of Herrera, the complaint says.
Herrera is suing Montgomery County, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department, the Montgomery County Department of Corrections, Sheriff Stan Veach, jail administrator Mario Grant and corrections officer Nick Bradford on the following charges:
• battery by Nick Bradford,
• assault by Mario Grant,
• intentional infliction of emotional distress by Mario Grant,
• negligent hiring by Sheriff Stan Veach, the Department of Corrections, and Montgomery County.
• negligent supervision and entrustment,
• denial of medical needs by the Department of Corrections, Sheriff Veach and Montgomery County,
• use of excessive force by Bradford,
• cruel and unusual punishment by Bradford and Grant,
• negligent training by the Department of Corrections, Sheriff Veach and Montgomery County.
Herrera is seeking a federal jury trial.
Her attorneys are Todd P. Graves, Michael L. Belancio and Ryan A. Kriegshauser of the Kansas City, Mo.,-based law firm of Graves Bartles and Marcus, LLC.
Since that complaint was filed in October, Bradford and Grant have submitted responses to the feeral court. The two men deny most of the allegations, including whether Herrera was actually pregnant at the time of the incident.
Bradford claims that after the altercation between Herrera and the other inmate, he repeatedly asked Herrera to calm her behavior after she became “out of control and posed a danger to herself and others.” He warned her that she would be impaired with a Taser if she refused to control her temper. When she refused, Bradford hit Herrera with the Taser weapon with two electrical shocks, both of which, Bradford claims, were very short and did not have any lasting effects.
Bradford contends he was merely using self defense of himself and other corrections officers and inmates as the reason for using the Taser gun on Herrera.
Bradford also asserts that the use of a Taser gun as “privileged under state law and not done with the requisite intent to injure her.”
In his official response to Herrera’s complaint, Grant also denies the allegations brought against him by Herrera.
As in all cases, a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a jury of peers or an admission of guilt.
