ST. LOUIS -- A woman who was imprisoned for 39 days while suffering from breast cancer is suing St. Louis County over the ordeal.
Adrianna Thurman filed a complaint on June 3 in St. Louis County Circuit Court against St. Louis County, Jim Buckles, Julia Murphy, Jennifer Bello-Kottenstette, Brian Herschbach, Tricia Rodgers and Does 1-3 for unlawful seizure and confinement in violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth amendments, false imprisonment, failure to provide adequate medical care and treatment, unlawful practice and/or custom, failure to train, supervise and/or discipline and negligence.
According to the complaint, on October 2, 2018, Thurman - then 30 years old, seven months pregnant and a single mother of two very young children - was arrested at her home and imprisoned by St. Louis County on a civil “body attachment” related to a paternity claim brought by a rebuffed ex-boyfriend.
Thurman was taken from her children, her home, her job and locked up in general population at the St. Louis County jail for 39 days, while not being told why she was being detained, and while she was suffering from painful breast cancer that would remain undiagnosed in jail despite Thurman’s complaints, the suit says.
During her time in jail, Thurman says she was not told why she was detained, when she could post bail or when she would be able to get out of detainment. St. Louis County employees would later tell Thurman she “slipped through the cracks.
Thurman seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages, pre-judgment interest, post-judgment interest, attorneys fees and costs of suit. Thurman is represented by Mark J. Pedroli of Pedroli Law, LLC.
Circuit Court of St. Louis County 21st Judicial Circuit case number 4:21-cv-00816-HEA