Woman suing embattled Ariz. county over 2009 birth
PHOENIX — More problems for the embattled Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona.
A lawsuit has been filed against the department and others, claiming county employees exhibited deliberate indifference to a female inmate’s medical needs and violated her constitutional rights when they kept her shackled before and after her 2009 Caesarean section.
The Arizona Republic reports Miriam Mendiola-Martinez was pregnant when Scottsdale police arrested her in October 2009 on forgery charges. The lawsuit cites a recently released Justice Department report accusing the Sheriff’s Office of discrimination.
Mendiola-Martinez claims detention officers ignored her cries for help because they were made in Spanish, and she had to ask someone who spoke English to translate her complaints to the officers.
The lawsuit claims an unidentified detention officer insisted Mendiola-Martinez be shackled to the hospital bed as she recovered from surgery.
The Sheriff’s Office declined to comment.