Suit moves forward for family of man who died in local jail
A federal civil lawsuit stemming from the July 2015 in-custody death of a man in Texarkana’s Bi-State Justice Building jail is moving forward.
Michael Sabbie, 35, was found dead in his cell shortly after 6 a.m. on July 22, 2015. He had been arrested by Texarkana, Ark., police and booked into the jail on a misdemeanor charge the afternoon of July 19, 2015, following a verbal argument with his wife, according to a complaint filed in May 2017 on behalf of Sabbie’s family in the Texarkana Division of the Eastern District of Texas.
Upon intake, Sabbie told jail staff he suffered from asthma, heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure.
Despite his medical conditions and his need for medications to treat them, Sabbie allegedly was given no drugs during his incarceration. Also, nursing staff failed to conduct even routine monitoring of his blood pressure and blood sugar, even though such testing was ordered by the intake nurse, the complaint states. Sabbie repeatedly showed and complained of symptoms of severe medical distress, which should have moved jail personnel to take him to a hospital but allegedly were ignored, according to the complaint.
Sabbie allegedly told nursing staff
he was short of breath and “unable to breathe while lying down” at 3:30 a.m. July 20, 2015. A jail nurse noted that his blood oxygen level was down about 8 percent from the day before and that his heart rate was significantly higher, but jail workers allegedly failed to conduct even basic tests that might have illuminated his dire need for treatment, according to the complaint.
Nursing staff allegedly continued to ignore Sabbie’s constant breathing complaints, and officers reportedly wrote him up July 20, 2015, for faking illness and breathing problems.
Sabbie’s worsening condition was allegedly obvious to court staff at a hearing July 21, 2015, and the judge offered to let Sabbie sit during the proceeding. About 4:15 p.m. the same day, jail cameras recorded Sabbie speaking to a correctional officer while holding a tissue to his face and leaning against a wall.
In the recording, Sabbie briefly moves out of the camera’s view, and the next images depict officers piling on top of Sabbie while one sprays him in the face with a chemical agent as he is pinned beneath them and unable to move.
Sabbie repeatedly states, “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe,” as officers threaten him according to a recording from a hand-held camera with audio. After being placed in a shower, where he appears to momentarily collapse, Sabbie is thrown into his cell. He is discovered dead the following day by officers who open the door after Sabbie fails to respond to their commands to pull up his pants.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Caroline Craven denied a motion to dismiss in a report and recommendations issued Nov. 6. The complaint, filed on behalf of Sabbie’s estate and individual family members by Erik Heipt and Edwin Budge of Seattle and Texarkana lawyers Matt Soyars and Bruce Flint, names LaSalle Corrections, a private jail management company; Bowie County, Texas; Texarkana, Ark.; and a number of individual LaSalle employees as defendants.
On Monday, Budge and Heipt filed a motion asking the court to break the trial down into two phases. The first phase of trial will deal with what happened in the jail and whether any of the defendants should be found liable for Sabbie’s death and/or guilty of violating his civil rights. If a jury finds that one or more of the defendants is liable, the jury would decide in the first phase the amount of damages that should be awarded for Sabbie’s pre-death pain and suffering and whether, and in what amount, punitive damages should be awarded.
Should the jury find none of the defendants liable for Sabbie’s demise, the trial would end. But if the jury determines there is liabilty, then a second phase to determine the amount of damages each of the individual defendants should receive will commence, under the plaintiffs’ lawyers’ proposal. The motion argues that the two-phase trial is a good idea because it would make the testimony of members of Sabbie’s family, including his children, unnecessary if no liability is found, shorten the trial’s length and avoid the possibility that prejudicial or emotional testimony could taint the jury’s findings concerning liability.
“First, bifurcation would be vastly more efficient because the many first-phase witnesses have no information relevant to second-phase issues—and vice versa. In other words, there is a distinct separation between the witnesses who would be called in the first and second phases. The eight individual plaintiffs (Mr. Sabbie’s four minor children, his widow, and his three siblings) as well as several dozen supporting damages witnesses have no information concerning first-phase issues of liability, cause of death, pre-death pain and suffering, or punitive damages,” the motion states.
The defense is expected to present evidence at trial that might cast Sabbie in a bad light and testimony from members of Sabbie’s family could lead a juror to feel sympathy. The motion argues that “prejudicial” testimony would be primarily presented in the second phase, eliminating the risk that it could influence the jury’s findings in the damages phase.
The bifurcated trial could also mean less time sitting around for witnesses.
The case is s cheduled for jury selection and trial in April 2019 before U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder III in Texarkana’s downtown federal building.