She was having a massive stroke, but Puyallup cops jailed her for DUI. Now she is suing

Besides the unusual migraines that prompted her to take a sick day, everything seemed fine for Jane Carhuff as she pulled away from her Puyallup home to go to the doctor in November 2019.

But by the time she made the approximately 20-minute trip, the 55-year-old postal worker had crashed three times. Other drivers reported she was acting strangely and fled, according to police documents cited in court papers. Puyallup police later arrested her at the clinic on suspicion of DUI once Central Pierce & Rescue firefighters opined she wasn’t in medical distress. Then she sat in Puyallup’s jail for hours acting “goofy.”

A CT scan the next day revealed what was really going on in Carhuff’s head: a massive stroke.

“Tragic,” said attorney Tom Balerud, who filed a lawsuit this month seeking damages, out-of-pocket costs and other unspecified relief from the city of Puyallup and Central Pierce Fire on behalf of Carhuff. “She had made it to exactly where she needed to be.”

The city of Puyallup declined to comment on the case, citing the active litigation under review, Puyallup police Capt. Ryan Portmann told The News Tribune.

The city is represented by Jeremy Culumber of the Seattle-based law firm Keating Bucklin and McCormack, according to court documents filed Friday. The firm has represented police departments in excessive force cases and once provided legal services to the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office under former elected Prosecutor Mark Lindquist.

Central Pierce Fire Chief Dustin Morrow said the district is gathering information and notified its legal counsel about the lawsuit.

Carhuff, now under state care, is fed by caregivers and doesn’t remember who her family is, according to her brother.

“I had to stop going,” said James Carhuff, who told The News Tribune the group home visits bring him to the verge of tears. “If they just would have taken her to the hospital.”

Carhuff’s lawsuit criticized the Police Department for not conducting field sobriety tests in line with department policy and alleged firefighters rendered a medical opinion without the expertise to do so.

Her brother said he wants to advocate for state law reform that mandates medical evaluations in cases like his sister’s.

“We need a system first that looks to protecting people and worrying about their health before we get involved in some sort of confirmation bias,” said Balerud, who agreed with Carhuff’s brother.

Before leaving for the doctor’s office, Carhuff had a normal breakfast with two family members, according to the lawsuit. The relatives directed Puyallup police to the clinic when officers arrived at the home looking for Carhuff.

Plucked from the waiting area, Carhuff mumbled something about being diabetic and kept walking away as firefighters tried to examine her, according to the lawsuit. When her blood sugar came back normal, the firefighters told police she didn’t appear to be in medical distress and concluded she was intoxicated.

A Pierce County sheriff’s deputy drew Carhuff’s blood before Puyallup police booked her into the city jail, according to the lawsuit.

When jail staff reported she was still acting strangely, the department dispatched an officer to go to her home again, according to the lawsuit. The same relatives said she didn’t appear impaired when she left and advised she was a federal employee.

“She doesn’t even drink,” her brother told The News Tribune.

When Carhuff’s family posted her bail about eight hours after the arrest, jail staff advised them she wasn’t in medical distress and to wait for the signs of her intoxication to wear off, according to the lawsuit.

Carhuff was uncharacteristically mouthy with the police and argumentative with her brother as they left, her brother said. Outside, she tried to walk straight into the street.

“And she kept asking about her car,” said her brother, who recalled her claims that she could fix it. “I told her, ‘This car is totaled.’”

Carhuff’s brother took her to the hospital the next day as her condition worsened, he said.

Urgent care clinic staff said to rush Carhuff to the emergency room for a potential stroke, according to the lawsuit.

Outside her hospital room, doctors broke the news to her brother that she indeed had a stroke and too many hours had passed to give her a critical blood clot-busting drug, he said.

A retired pharmacy technician, Carhuff’s brother said he knew passing minutes counted when he mixed the drug for hospitalized stroke patients during his career.

After a Puyallup Municipal Court judge dismissed the DUI charges, Carhuff’s criminal defense lawyer recommended having another attorney look at the incident for a civil claim, her brother said.

Carhuff’s brother said he cashed out a chunk of his retirement funds to pay for his sister’s initial care. He said the state covers most of her expenses now, but not the clothing and other personal items he sources on his limited budget.

“I believe the case will be easy to prosecute, but there can be no winner,” said Balerud, noting his lawsuit relies largely on a sworn search warrant from Puyallup police. “I can only ease her suffering.”

Balerud said neither the city of Puyallup nor Central Pierce Fire responded to tort claims he filed more than two months ago as a precursor to the lawsuit. He declined to specify the financial damages sought.

During an interview, Carhuff’s brother reflected on how his sister, the youngest of five, inherited her father’s sense of humor. He joked that she was married to her job with the Postal Service, which she started out of high school in 1980.

“It’s really a tragedy,” James Carhuff said. “She was young. And now, when I have to look at her, I have to cry.”