Man Awarded $12.2 Million After Jail Officials Neglected Him, Leading To His Hands Being Amputated

Terrance Dwayne Winborn, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, has been awarded $12.2 million by Scott County. This comes after he was apprehended for suspicion of drink driving which resulted in him being placed in the hospital, experiencing a heart attack, experiencing harmful skin lesions, and had his hands amputated.

The money that Winborn was awarded will go towards his medical bills and for his future care.

On Aug. 27, 2020, Winborn had been apprehended for driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.13%, which is greater than the legal limit of 0.08%. After he was placed in jail and became sober, Winborn started to get ill and began to vomit.

A nurse at the jail documented that Winborn couldn’t stand up when she performed a daily COVID-19 check and that his right hand was very swollen. However, he didn’t get the medical help that he needed from officials. Thus, a bacterial infection invaded Winborn’s body for 39 hours, leading him to be hospitalized for four months.

When he was eventually seen by  medical professionals, a flesh-eating bacteria, necrotizing, had gotten into his body tissue. This is when both of his hands and one forearm had to be amputated.

Because he will be without two of his limbs, Winborn will now need continuous medical care to complete daily tasks. In a recording, Winborn says that he only eats two meals each day because of the pressure it puts on his body to try to eat a third.

Jail officials also didn’t keep recordings of Winborn’s experiences after 90 days, leading to a loss of evidence of Winborn’s injuries prior to litigation.