Patient claims he was tased by Virginia hospital security
Lynchburg VA April 5 2020
A former patient at Lynchburg General Hospital says he was severely injured when he was shocked by a security guard wielding a stun gun in 2018. Now, the patient has filed a civil rights action against the hospital owner and two of its guards.
Plaintiff Anthony Smith contends he was disoriented and delusional from side effects of medication after surgery and wandered away from his hospital bed. Accosted by security guards, Smith says he was “assaulted, battered and falsely imprisoned” besides being shocked by a Taser.
Smith claims the guards were acting under color of state law because they were under direction of a special conservator of the peace appointed by a court.
The patient is not aiming for the stars. Represented by Lynchburg’s M. Paul Valois, Smith filed a $25,000 motion for judgment in Lynchburg General District Court. But Smith claims the incident amounted to a Fourth Amendment breach of his liberty and due process rights.
Hospital owner Centra Health Inc. – represented by lawyers from Woods Rogers in Roanoke – removed the case to federal court and filed a motion to dismiss.
“Generic references to unspecified policies or customs and alleged constitutional violations are clearly insufficient,” Centra Health said of the civil rights claim.
The case is now before U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon.
