A drug suspect had the tip of his crucial right middle finger lopped off thanks to a careless Manhattan jail guard — and the city should have to pay for the bloody mess, a new $2 million lawsuit says.
Shaun Bernard was locked up in a holding cell in the Tombs in Manhattan in January 2015 on drug charges when his finger got caught in the automatic sliding door, ripping off the tip.
At the time Bernard, 28, had already posted $1,000 bail but hadn’t been released yet, according to court papers.
“He was sitting on the toilet,” Bernard’s lawyer, Nicolas Bagley explained.
“It’s a tight fit, so to balance yourself to get up, you put your hands on the wall, and where his finger was the guard opened the door without any warning. It basically took his finger with the door and got the tip off,” Bagley said.
According to the Manhattan Supreme Court suit, “Following the severing of his fingertip, Shaun Bernard picked up his severed finger from the floor and repeatedly requested medical attention.”
After 30 minutes, Bernard was taken to a clinic where the doctor wanted to throw out the fingertip, but Bernard protested and was sent back to his cell with the digit in a melting bag of ice, according to the suit and Bagley.
After five more hours, Bernard passed out from blood loss and was taken to the clinic again and then finally sent to Bellevue Hospital Center, the suit says.
There, emergency room docs were able to reattach the tip.
“He should have been sent to Bellevue immediately for reattachment of his finger rather than languishing for hours in a cell with no running water and no ice,” Bagley said.
“He’s still undergoing hand therapy to get the sensation,” Bagley said.
Bernard later pleaded guilty to two drug charges for possession of cocaine and the club drug MDMA. His sentencing is set for June.
A city Law Department spokesman said, “We’ll review the complaint.”