Lawsuit: Man in crisis left unresponsive, covered in blood and feces in Dakota County jail

A federal lawsuit filed on Thursday alleges that Dakota County jail employees left a Farmington man covered in feces, blood and vomit in a padded cell while his mental and physical health rapidly deteriorated.

Caleb Duffy was arrested by Hastings police on July 4, 2022, for probable cause domestic assault. When he was removed from the jail two mornings later, his cell was covered in blood and feces, and he was largely unresponsive. Duffy was taken to St. Paul’s Regions Hospital in critical condition and suffering from severe diabetic ketoacidosis.

He was kept intubated and sedated for five days before being transferred to the psychiatry unit. His hospital bill totaled more than $220,000.

The lawsuit was brought by Brian Duffy, Caleb’s father and limited legal guardian. It lists Dakota County, Advanced Correctional Healthcare, Inc. (ACH), 10 county employees and three employees of ACH as defendants.

“This case involves a shocking lack of care by the defendant corrections and jail medical staff. No person should be subjected to such willful indifference,” the family’s attorney, Ryan Vettleson of law firm Storms Dworak, said in a statement.

“Mr. Duffy’s plight was so severe that it is extremely difficult to watch any of it on video, but the video goes on for hours on end — and the individuals present at the time did nothing.”

Citing the pending litigation, Sheriff Joe Leko said in a statement that he could not comment on the allegations.

“The safety and care of our detainees has always been and continues to be our highest priority in the jail,” he said.

In a statement, the county said: “We are aware of a lawsuit involving an incident from 2022, which is under review internally. Due to pending litigation we can’t comment further.”

The County Attorney’s office is litigating the case.

The lawsuit claims that while in custody, Duffy’s “obvious and severe symptoms he displayed in a medical emergency were repeatedly ignored.” He had a lengthy history of medical hospitalization for diabetes and mental health crisis intervention in the months leading up to his arrest. His father called the jail repeatedly just hours after his son was arrested to explain that Duffy was a vulnerable adult, mentally ill, needed his medication and should be hospitalized.

In videos and photos from jail surveillance video, Duffy, who was 22 at the time, shows increasing levels of distress over 50 hours in custody.

As he goes through the criminal intake process, he appears calm, talking with jail staff. Inside his cell, though, he begins pacing. As time passes, he strips naked, defecates and urinates on the floor, and vomits several times. He also smashes his head against the walls and a metal floor grate.

Throughout the process, jail staff and medical personnel with ACH — a private corporation licensed to do business in Minnesota — kept Duffy under observation and administered medication.

But as his mental and physical health continued to deteriorate, the lawsuit alleges, they “failed to take any corrective action, or even note the horrendous condition of his cell, his body, or his bleeding head wound.”

The lawsuit also alleges that jail staff and ACH personnel did not give Duffy his prescribed medication — Gabapentin and insulin — which his father delivered to the jail, “demonstrating deliberate indifference to Duffy’s serious medical needs.”

The suit says Duffy’s psychotic behavior in the cell, which included “agitation, disorientation, combativeness and confusion,” resulted, in part, because he was not given his medication or treated for withdrawal from it.

The suit seeks monetary damages and a jury trial on three counts: Eighth and/or Fourteenth Amendment violations vs. all defendants; professional negligence vs. ACH and Dakota County; and ordinary negligence against the county.

Duffy has one misdemeanor criminal conviction and three civil commitments, the most recent in June of this year which remains in effect, according to court records.