AIDS Victim’s Suit Claims Life Was in Danger in Cell

A discrimination suit filed against the city police accuses them of endangering the life of an AIDS victim in their custody by putting him in an isolated cell and ignoring him, a lawyer said Friday.

The suit claims that police isolated Jim Lind, 25, of Philadelphia when he told them he had AIDS and ignored him even after he lost consciousness because of a lack of food and water, said Julie Shapiro, an attorney for the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania.

The group filed the suit on Lind’s behalf last week.

Lind and nine others were arrested in June after an AIDS demonstration outside the Adam’s Mark Hotel, Shapiro said. Upon arrival at the police station, Lind told police he had AIDS, and he and his associates were placed in a cell isolated from other prisoners, she said.

“I think it was particularly scary, too, because when you’re in the custody of police, you can’t help yourself and it’s frightening,” Shapiro said.

Lind and his associates remained in the cell for about four hours while police, who arrested them for obstructing an entrance to the hotel, processed their citations, Shapiro said.

She said that at the time of his arrest, Lind was taking AZT, a highly toxic medication used in the treatment of AIDS. Although he was in police custody only a short time, he needed special attention because of his condition.

Shapiro said Lind began to lose consciousness and his associates shouted for help, but their pleas went unheeded.

“The whole thing wouldn’t have happened if he had had food and water,” she said. “They needed to get him food and water and needed to get him to a cool place. It was pretty hot back there in the cell room.”

Lind sought medical care and recovered after he was released.

“It wasn’t that they knew he was sick and they just ignored it. They just never bothered to check to see what his condition was. They just wanted the whole thing to go away,” Shapiro said.

Police would not comment.