ACLU suit: Worthington police brutality left man with broken ribs, bleeding internal organs

Oct 16, 20190

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Squad car video shows officers Mark Riley, left, and Micah Mesman escorting Kelvin Rodriguez from an auto dealership parking lot in January. Mesman is not a defendant in the lawsuit filed on the behalf of Rodriguez. Credit: Provided by the ACLU of Minnesota

The American Civil Liberties Union has again sued the city of Worthington, Minn., and its police department, alleging excessive force, this time contending that an officer and a civilian riding along in the squad car assaulted a 33-year-old man and kept him in custody as he begged to be taken to a hospital for treatment of "potentially deadly" injuries.

The ACLU of Minnesota sued Monday in U.S. District Court on behalf of Kelvin F. Rodriguez, 33, of Sheldon, Iowa. The civil rights lawsuit said the encounter resulted in him being in intensive care for five days, and needing multiple surgeries and other medical procedures totaling nearly $150,000 for four broken ribs and internal bleeding from lacerations to his pancreas and liver. Rodriguez was never charged with a crime stemming from his apprehension.

http://www.startribune.com/aclu-suit-worthington-police-brutality-left-man-with-broken-ribs-bleeding-internal-organs/563152342/