Federal suit: Lack of medical care by jailers led to woman's death

A wrongful-death lawsuit has been filed against the Mississippi County Detention Center in Charleston, Missouri, claiming jailers did not offer proper medical care for a 21-year-old woman during an overdose and let her die in her cell.

The lawsuit claims a video shows a jailer laughing at the woman at different points in the night and demonstrates she cried out for medical help an hour before she was found dead.

The suit was filed on behalf of the woman's two children by the children's father, Devin Arnold.

It alleges jailers who worked for then-jail administrator Cory Hutcheson and Charleston police officers failed to provide adequate medical care to inmate Somer Nunnally.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau on May 2 and amended May 5, alleges two counts of federal civil-rights violations and one count of wrongful death. The suit seeks "fair and reasonable damages" as well as punitive damages.

Named as defendants besides Hutcheson, who is sheriff, are the county government, detention officers Josh Cooper, Sally Gammons Yanez and Chris Wooten, as well as Charleston public safety officers Curtis Arnold and James Williams.

Yanez, who now is jail administrator, said Monday she has not been served papers about the suit.

"We found out about it through the news media," she said.

She declined further comment.

Kansas City, Missouri, lawyer Samuel Wendt, who represents the plaintiff, called Nunnally's death "a tragedy." He said law-enforcement officials had time to provide her with medical care but did not do so.

The suit is the latest legal trouble for Hutcheson, who was arrested in April on criminal charges including assault, robbery and forgery.

It also is not the first lawsuit dealing with the detention center.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit last year, alleging abuse caused an inmate to miscarry.

The latest lawsuit states Nunnally was arrested May 2, 2015, after Charleston police responded to a complaint a vehicle had run over a trash can.

After performing a sobriety test, officer Arnold "concluded that she was intoxicated as a result of drugs," the suit states.

According to the lawsuit, Nunnally had purchased prescription narcotics and/or other pills illegally before her arrest and had ingested "a large number of pills" before the officer arrived on the scene.

Nunnally was arrested about 6:25 p.m. and taken to the police station.

She then was taken to the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, Missouri, to have blood drawn to aid in a prosecution, the suit states.

At 8:40 p.m., she was taken to the Mississippi County Jail. Officer Williams, who took her to the jail, "was aware of Ms. Nunnally's severe level of intoxication and dangerous condition," according to the lawsuit.

Jail staffers also were aware of Nunnally's condition, the suit alleges.

The complaint describes Nunnally's hours as recorded on surveillance video.

"Throughout the entire 50-minute booking process, Ms. Nunnally was swaying, falling asleep, passing out, slumping over and almost falling out of her chair on multiple occasions," the suit states.

About 9:30 p.m., Yanez took Nunnally into a room and performed a strip search, according to the suit.

During the booking process, Nunnally was incapable of signing her name on the medical questionnaire and instead marked an "X" in the signature line, the suit states.

At 9:41 p.m., Nunnally was placed in a jail cell to "sleep off the drugs in her system," according to jailer Cooper, the suit alleges.

The lawsuit states Nunnally fell off the toilet in her cell about 10:20 p.m.

Jailer Wooten allegedly walked into the cell at 11:29 p.m. No jailer checked on her again until 2:07 a.m. May 3, according to the complaint.

Jailer Cooper "peers into the cell at 2:32 a.m., laughs, and continues to stand outside her cell for a brief moment," the lawsuit alleges.

At 4:43 a.m., Cooper checks on Nunnally and "starts laughing," the suit states.

Cooper peers into Nunnally's cell-door window at 4:58 a.m., according to the suit, which alleges the woman was "crying and asking for help and medical attention."

At 6 a.m., Nunnally was found to be unresponsive, and no pulse was detected, the suit said.

Ambulance personnel were called to the jail and found no heart activity, the suit said.

Nunnally was found dead after less than 14 hours in custody, according to the complaint. Coroner Terry Parker concluded Nunnally died from mixed-drug intoxication, according to the suit.

The death certificate states Nunnally was found about 5 a.m., "yet no one was contacted regarding her death until after 6 a.m.," the lawsuit alleges.

"Defendants knew of Ms. Nunnally's need for medical attention, and they repeatedly and continually disregarded an excessive risk" to her health and safety, according to the suit.

The lawsuit also accuses defendants of "deliberate indifference," and "intentional and/or negligent acts."

The suit claims Mississippi County has "a custom, policy and practice of ignoring detainee's pleas for emergency medical care."

The lawsuit contends Hutcheson and the Mississippi County government "allowed correction officers with no or inadequate training to assess" medical conditions and withhold or deny medical treatment.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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