Seizure victim beaten by cops can pursue negligence claims

OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) — The first time that 22-year-old Jack Francis Bruce had a seizure, he was driving through Hercules, California. His car ran off the two-lane roadway and crashed into a ditch, where he lost consciousness. He suffered multiple cuts, contusions and back injuries that still plague him over a year later.

But his injuries weren’t caused by the car accident. They were caused by the officers who showed up to help him.

A federal judge on Tuesday allowed multiple claims to survive in Bruce’s lawsuit against the City of Hercules as well as its police and firefighters, whom he claims ignored their training for seizure victims, instead making medically unsound decisions to remove him from his vehicle and assaulting him in the aftermath of his emergency.

Bruce claims that after wrestling him from his vehicle, officers forcefully kneed him, tased him punched him multiple times in the face to get him to comply with their orders. He also claims that the officers attempted to cover up their excessive use of force by claiming in their police reports that he was under the influence of some substance.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzales Rogers declined a bid to dismiss the case, ruling from the bench that Bruce’s claims of gross negligence on the part of the paramedics on the scene and defamation claims as to their reports afterward were “sufficiently pled.”

“Clearly there are things in here that are potentially defamatory if the plaintiff can prove the elements,” Rogers said.

The judge added that it was very plausible that the first responders acted with “reckless disregard for the plaintiff’s rights” at this stage in the lawsuit.

“I’ve watched the video, which is very disturbing,” she said of the officers’ bodycam footage.

The Barack Obama appointee stopped short of ruling on claims that the firefighters violated the Americans with Disabilities Act for failing to provide reasonable care for his disability during the incident, opting to wait until Bruce submitted additional documents.

“Motion is denied as to two counts, I’ll reserve as to the last count,” Rogers said, adding that she’d have a written decision out “very quickly.”

Attorneys for Bruce celebrated the judge’s decision.

“We’re gratified that the court agrees with our allegations that the paramedic’s conduct was grossly negligent and that the subsequent report he wrote was false and defamatory,” David Fiol of Brent & Fiol, who represented Bruce, said in a phone call.

Attorneys for the City of Hercules and the Rodeo Hercules Fire Protection District declined to comment.

On April 1, 2024, Bruce suffered a tonic-clonic seizure, previously known as a grand mal brain seizure, while driving home from his grandmother’s house, according to court documents. When his car rolled down an embankment, two drivers stopped to help Bruce, turning off his car and calling 911.

Three Hercules Police Department officers — Angel Garcia, Michael Thompson and Joshua Goldstein — responded to the scene, where they reportedly encountered an incoherent and at times unresponsive Bruce.

Because seizure victims can react instinctively to physical contact, it’s typically recommended that responders avoid touching them, unless it’s to prevent them from harming themselves.

“We wouldn’t be here today if they waited 10 to 15 minutes to allow him to come to his senses,” Fiol told the judge.

Once Bruce regained partial consciousness, a paramedic with the Rodeo-Hercules Fire Protection District asked him a series of questions about his medical history, after which he and Thompson directed Bruce to leave his car and walk up the nearby hill.

Meanwhile, Bruce claims he was in a daze and confused as to his surroundings, so he instinctively resisted the officers’ efforts. At no point, he claims, did anyone ever explain to him where he was, or why exiting his vehicle was necessary.

“Do not fucking fight us. You will fucking get ripped out of this car. We’re not playing. Get the fuck up,” Thompson told Bruce in bodycam footage.

When this didn’t work, the officer tased Bruce several times, “sending a high current through the body of a young man who had just suffered a medical condition caused by abnormal electrical activity in the brain,” as Bruce notes in his complaint.

Thompson also admitted in bodycam footage later to punching Bruce in the face twice.

By the time Bruce was dragged onto a gurney on the roadway shoulder, he had cuts on his lip and a “large portion” of his white shirt had bloodstains on it.

Upon finding out he was the son of a law enforcement officer, Bruce claims that the officer tried to create the false impression that they suspected him of being high on drugs.

“He’s high as fuck on something, I just don’t know what it is,” Garcia said. The officer then switched off his bodycam’s audio for the final twelve minutes of the bodycam recording.

Bruce is asking the court for general damages to compensate him for physical pain, suffering and emotional distress caused by the officers and firefighters, as well as punitive damages.

Besides the three claims the judge addressed today, Bruce is also suing the City of Hercules and its police department on seven other counts, including false arrest, excessive force, battery, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

This case was filed in the Northern District of California and heard at the Ron V. Dellums Federal Courthouse in Oakland, California.