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In Brief
- Man suffered stroke and died while in custody.
- Allegedly exhibited classic stroke symptoms but was denied medical care.
- Robins Kaplan has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit.
Robins Kaplan has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that Eagan police, Dakota County corrections officers, and the county itself failed to provide timely medical care to a man suffering a stroke while in custody. The man ultimately died, and the firm is representing the family in a deliberate indifference lawsuit. Katie Bennett, partner at Robins Kaplan who is one of the attorneys representing the family, discussed the case and the road forward.
In late evening of Nov. 16, 2024, Kingsley Fifi Bimpong, 50, was pulled over for a traffic violation by Eagan police officers. He had left work at the U.S. Postal Service early after having a headache. Body cam video shows that Bimpong was having difficulty following simple directions and was unable to recall his name, despite having his work vest on.
Throughout his time in custody, the complaint states, Bimpong displayed classic symptoms of a stroke.
“The body camera video showed that it’s really unclear he even understood what any of the questions meant,” Bennett said.
The complaint alleges that the drug recognition expert who was called to the scene, as well as the sergeant, decided not to do an evaluation and instead transported Bimpong to the Eagan Police Department for a blood draw. Bimpong had no criminal history, and the complaint states that there was no evidence of substance abuse.
“Regardless of what the underlying cause of his cognitive and physical impairment was, he needed to be seen,” Bennett said.
Bimpong’s condition deteriorated when he arrived at the police department to wait for a warrant for a blood draw. His beard had drool on it, he fell asleep, and his right hand and arm were visibly weak. Yet, he was transported to the Dakota County Jail in Hastings.
When Bimpong arrived at the jail, he was dragging his right foot behind his body. He was unable to hold himself upright and urinated on himself. Bimpong began to foam at the mouth and have seizure-like activity.
He was in his cell for nearly 3½ hours when he was discovered cold to the touch. His eyes were nonreactive to light, and his body unresponsive to painful stimuli. After the unsuccessful administration of Narcan, Bimpong was finally transported to the hospital. He was declared brain-dead and was disconnected from life support.
On Oct. 9, Robins Kaplan filed suit on behalf of the family, seeking money damages totaling $120 million for the wrongful death of Bimpong. The suit asserts Eighth and 14th Amendment violations and civil rights violations. Defendants include Eagan police officers as well as Dakota County correctional officers and Dakota County. Other Robins Kaplan attorneys representing Bimpong’s family are Robert Bennett, Andrew Noel, Marc Betinsky and Greta Wiessner.
Katie Bennett says that one of the main challenges of this case is trying to piece together lots of video evidence and finding all of the people who were involved at the different stages.
“This is just a lot,” Bennett said. “There is going to be a lot of deposition testimony that is needed in this case.”
“Once you peel back a layer in these cases, there are always three more depositions that are needed after you get in there, and then it just snowballs,” Bennett added.
Additionally, lawyers will have to carefully go through all of the five hours and 40 minutes of video documenting Bimpong’s demise.
“Even the video is five hours and 40 minutes, which maybe does not seem like much,” Bennett said. “But when you have seven different angles, and three body cams, and sally ports. Trying to put that puzzle together is really time consuming.”
Beyond the tedious nature of carefully pulling together all of these different videos to present a clear sense of what happened to the jury, the process has also really impacted Bennett personally.
“It keeps me up at night,” Bennett said. “These videos are horrific to watch.”
Bennett says that she nevertheless has watched and watched to ultimately bring some closure to the family.
A jury trial has been demanded.
The Dakota County Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the pending litigation.
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