Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
A woman, arrested by New Jersey State Troopers who believed that she was driving under the influence, was this week awarded $11.5 million in damages by a jury who heard in court that she had in fact suffered a stroke behind the wheel and had her pleas for help ignored by the arresting officers.
Cheryl Lynn Rhines was handed the enormous payout by an Essex County jury in the northern part of the Garden State after they also heard from her lawyers that as a result of the mistaken arrest, she was unable to get urgent medical treatment, leaving her permanently disabled.
The officer in question placed Rhines, 57, on the hood of her car, while she suffered “facial drooping, drooping eyelids, a gaze, confusion”, and abandoned her, as Rhines, clearly in distress, struggled to even hold herself up.
The tragic incident occurred on October 17, 2017. Rhines, then 48, had set off for work like any other day, driving from her home in Jersey City to Florham Park where she worked as a senior marketing executive for BASF – a German chemical company.
But suddenly, as she passed through the toll at the New Jersey Turnpike extension, she started to experience early onset symptoms of a severe stroke.
Panic-stricken, she pulled over at Route 78 West at Milepost 56, Newark, according to a lawsuit filed by her mother. Approximately half an hour later, NJ State Police arrived and found Rhine’s car running, in drive, and smashed into the right guardrail of the roadway.
Crucially, she had been wearing “professional business attire”, and there was no evidence of alcohol or drug paraphernalia in her vehicle at the scene, nor did she have any previous outstanding warrants, stated the suit.
The stroke had caused Rhines’s body to seize up on the right side, hindering her speech, and thus rendering her unable to comply with demands such as putting the vehicle into park and turning off the ignition, said the suit.
After troopers switched off the car’s ignition, they noted in the police report that Rhines was “unable to speak, write, or move in response to commands” and her face started to droop.
Now in a paraplegic state and in desperate need of help, Rhines attempted to exit her car, but lost total control of her bodily functions, said the suit.
But rather than call for medical attention, the trooper arrested Rhines for “being under the influence of an unknown narcotic”, handcuffing and inappropriately manhandling her into the backseat of a police car.
When she was eventually received at the hospital, medical staff found her with bruises across her arm, forearm, knee, and shin – injuries presumed to have been inflicted when she was being handled by police and fell to the pavement, the suit alleged.
Thus, the suit goes on, that the officers responsible for the mishandling, “knew and/or should have known her need for medical evaluation” and failed to act and call EMS at the appropriate time.
There is a trauma center and recognized emergency stroke center just five minutes away from the crash site, the lawsuit reads, but rather than take her there, Rhines was in cuffs and on her way to the Somerville Trooper station.
It was only when someone at the station noticed her symptoms, that paramedics were called.
The suit even stated that officers “mocked and ridiculed” Rhines on and off audio and video recordings of the incident, stating that she was “playing games” while undergoing the stroke.
The debacle cost her two and half critical hours that were needed to save her mobility – decisions that could have resulted in her death if the stroke had been any more severe.
While medics managed to break up the clot in her brain, the delay caused by the troopers resulted in Rhines being left with “the death of significant brain function and permanent lifelong disability.”
Her life has been forever altered, as she can no longer work, and requires around-the-clock care.
The horrendous ordeal has called the practices and training of New Jersey state police into question, specifically why they failed to prevail as trustworthy public servants and reliable first responders.
The suit surmised: “[The] defendant’s conduct was so outrageous in character and so extreme in degree as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency and is regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized community.
“Any ordinary human being observing Cheryl Rhines would have immediately recognized and called for emergent medical care.”
Guidance on how to spot someone experiencing a stroke can be found at Stroke.org and people should follow the acronym FACE, F= Face dropping or twisting, A=Arm weakness, S= Speech difficulty T= Time to know when to call 911.
The Independent contacted Rhines’ attorney and the New Jersey state police for comment.
