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    Woman wins $975K years after giving birth in jail

    SEATTLE (AP) — A woman has won $975,000 in a federal jury trial, 14 years after giving birth in a jail cell in Washington state.

    A jury agreed Friday on nine of 10 counts in Imka Pope's civil rights case against King County. Pope says jail nurses and corrections officers violated her civil rights in 1997 by dismissing her claims that she was pregnant.

    She had been arrested for sleeping on a bench at a Metro bus stop. In the lawsuit she filed in 2007, Pope said jail health officials locked her in a cell and ignored her for six days. She got help after a guard heard a baby crying.

    Her mental illness has delayed the case. It went to trial once previously, but at that time Pope was involuntarily committed to Harborview Medical Center.

    A call to the King County prosecutor's office seeking comment on the case was not immediately returned late Friday afternoon.

     
    • Shuvaxu  •  Hallowell, Maine  •  3 mths ago
      Six days in, essentially, solitary conditions in jail for falling asleep on a bench ?

      Not only should they compensate her financially, whoever made the decision to leave her there and not provide help should be in prison!!!
      • marlo 3 mths ago
        she slept on a parkbench ...and had mental issues ..if she was a child molester ...or wall street gangster they would have had bail.....and be out to do whatever they do AGAIN....
    • P-47 THUNDERBOLT  •  3 mths ago
      Makes you wonder what the penalty is for jay-walking.
      • Hedgehog 3 mths ago
        Summary public castration.
    • Elixir  •  3 mths ago
      I didn't know that you could get arrested for sleeping on a bench.
      • FirstDude 3 mths ago
        Perhaps a vagrancy law?
      • Elixir 3 mths ago
        I guess if you are homeleess and the homeless shelter is full, you are going to jail.
      • accountant retired 3 mths ago
        we have a CTstatute thatmakes it a crime to be homeless. it might not be used often. it is there.
    • joe  •  3 mths ago
      The penal system in this country is completely backwards. No wonder the country is so violent. You get arrested for sleeping on a park bench, but nothing happens if you crash the economy and destroy the retirement savings of millions.
      • pedro 3 mths ago
        how about going to war based on lies.millions have died in account of a lies by our wonderfull goverment.
    • Rostyslaw  •  3 mths ago
      Not recognizing that a woman is pregnant at six days before she gives birth is incredible!
      I would think that her baby bump would be obvious by then. Also a cursory medical exam and
      a listen with a stethoscope would clearly show the baby's heartbeat, even if the woman did not
      make any claims of being pregnant.
      And then nobody in the jail noticing that she was giving birth, that is also incredible! How often
      are the people in the cells checked on? How often are they fed?
      Simply incredible!
      • mark m 3 mths ago
        this was more of a buffulo then a women,,,,she is mentally ill and drunk and stoned all the time. this type of garbage is all over america,,you liberals never see it in your world. a city cop sees it everyday
      • Ima 3 mths ago
        @Mark M - and you are the side that claims to be morally superior and God fearing yet you treat other human beings the exact opposite of what God would want us to.

        Disgusting
      • Rostyslaw 3 mths ago
        Mark, Where did you find any statement that Imka was 'drunk and stoned all the time'? Give us an exact reference please. I couldn't find any statement like that in looking at articles referenced on Google. I think that you are just a vicious troll
        hiding in the anonymity offered by the Internet.
    • Louis  •  3 mths ago
      975k is a bit steep but for christ sakes what sick barbarian ignores a pregnant woman?
    • STEVEN G  •  Tampa, Florida  •  3 mths ago
      Jail medical staff work at jail for a reason, believe me.
    • Have class, tip waitress  •  3 mths ago
      There are people that have jobs that really have no business doing them.
      When you go to jail, you are searched. Im sorry, if you cant spot a big pregnant woman
      something is wrong with you. And they call her mentally ill?
    • VanessaL  •  Los Angeles, California  •  3 mths ago
      Wow it took a baby crying and not the screams of labor to get a doc? Just plain nuts
    • Mike  •  Boston, Massachusetts  •  3 mths ago
      Thats good to know. I didn't realize it was illegal to sleep at a bus stop but getting almost a million out of it is well worth it
    • SCOTT  •  Marietta, Georgia  •  3 mths ago
      Won? no. She was awarded, yes
    • John  •  Albany, New York  •  3 mths ago
      Why didn't the police just bring her to a city mission. Sleeping on a bench sounds like a dangerous criminal. There need to be more cops like Andy Taylor instead of Barney Fife.
    • Morgan Katz  •  Plainfield, Indiana  •  3 mths ago
      Why did it take 14 freaking years to settle this!!!!!!!
    • mary  •  Gloversville, New York  •  3 mths ago
      The worst is that some lawyer probably is taking half of that money! I find it hard to believe that if she were so mentally unstable that she thought of the law suit all by herself..I smell attorneys getting rich!
    • Eric  •  3 mths ago
      Good, now she has money to pay for her federal programs and health care. Maybe she can pay back child services also.
    • mitzi  •  Los Angeles, California  •  3 mths ago
      must have been a very slow night of crime if police had to arrest some one for sleeping on a park bench
    • mark  •  St Louis, Missouri  •  3 mths ago
      Seattle is in the news a lot lately. Good thing microsoft is there or they'd be flat broke
    • Happy Days  •  Norfolk, Virginia  •  3 mths ago
      She mght be lucky to see $25 after her lawyer finishes with her.
    • Byron  •  Chicago, Illinois  •  3 mths ago
      So it's to sleep in jail and give birth but don't fall asleep on a bench in King County?
    • D  •  3 mths ago
      After layers fees, she'll only get $535k.
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