Source: Radio ONE / General

The family of Kingsley Fifi Bimpong has filed a lawsuit against the city of Eagan after the 50-year-old Black U.S. postal worker was not provided medical care for a stroke and died while in police custody.

The newly filed federal lawsuit accuses Eagan, Minnesota police and Dakota County jail staff of demonstrating “deliberate indifference” after officers ignored clear signs that Bimpong was having a massive stroke — instead assuming he was intoxicated.

According to the complaint, Bimpong left his shift with the U.S. Postal Service early, around 10:42 p.m. on Nov. 16, 2024, due to a headache and decreased vision. While driving home, he attempted a left turn at a red light and drove into oncoming traffic, hitting the center median in the process. When officers approached Bimpong, who was still wearing his USPS uniform, he was reportedly confused, disoriented, and unable to state where he lived or worked—the classic and undeniable symptoms of a severe stroke. Despite the medical emergency, Bimpong was arrested and accused of being under the influence before being thrown in jail, spending nearly six hours in custody as his symptoms continued to worsen and his body and mind shut down.

According to the lawsuit filed by civil rights attorney Katie Bennett, Sergeant Joseph Moseng summoned Officer Martin Jensen, a certified Drug Recognition Evaluator (DRE) trained to tell the difference between intoxication and medical crises, who allegedly dismissed his training, telling another officer that a full evaluation would be “a whole bunch of time wasted.”

DRE protocol involves a 12-step evaluation to determine a person’s cause of impairment, which includes a check for vital signs and three separate checks for pulse. However, when Moseng requested this evaluation, Jensen only partially completed three of the steps and did not take Bimpong’s pulse once, the complaint alleges. When asked whether Bimpong should be taken to a hospital, he allegedly replied, “For what?”

Instead of helping Bimpong receive medical attention he desperately needed, the officers arrested Bimpong on suspicion of DWI, a decision that transformed a medical crisis into a fatal torture. At the police station, his condition worsened as his signs of distress were continuously ignored. An emergency medical provider asked officers if they were planning to take him to the hospital, but the responding officer declined, saying, “It’s a whole thing.”

Instead, officers transported Bimpong to the Dakota County Jail, the lawsuit says. Body camera footage captures Moseng starting to ask, “Is this dude having a stro—” before Jensen muted his mic—cutting off the word “stroke.”

The lawsuit states that when Bimpong arrived at the jail, he lost his balance and had trouble walking, but his booking paperwork said he did not require further evaluation. Bimpong was reportedly placed in a cell with floor-to-ceiling windows, giving officers a clear view of Bimpong. Video surveillance from inside his cell shows him stumbling to the toilet, where he sat for several minutes before falling backward onto the floor. He remained there, rolling around in distress for hours.

“He’s having more difficulty walking, he has muscle issues, he’s drooling just continues to deteriorate and then gets taken to jail and spirals as he’s lying on the floor clearly suffering in front of the corrections officers it’s just heartbreaking to see,” Katie Bennett said.

Dakota County Jail procedure requires that all inmates be observed by a staff member at least once every 30 minutes. Multiple officers are recorded as observing Bimpong struggling on the ground for hours while marking his status as “OK” in the jail’s system,” the lawsuit says.

“[He] ends up losing control of his bladder rolling around in his own urine,” Bennett continued. “Clearly in pain and struggling for hours when no one is helping him.”

After three hours of negligence, a nurse entered Bimpong’s cell where he was found cold to the touch and unresponsive,” the lawsuit states. The nurse administered Narcan three times with no effect believing he’d overdosed. When paramedics finally arrived Bimpong’s blood pressure was a deadly 240 /216 signaling a hypertensive crisis.

By the time the father of one was transported to Dakota County Jail around 1 a.m., his stroke was catastrophic. His alcohol and drug screens came back negative and a CT scan showed a hemorrhage and swelling in his brain. Bimpong was declared brain dead on Nov. 18 , 2024 , and taken off a ventilator the next day.

Attorney Katie Bennett described the case as “one of the worst jail deaths we’ve ever seen,” adding: “The police and correctional officers acted on incorrect and unfounded assumptions about Kingsley as justification for treating a person suffering from classic stroke symptoms with callous indifference that resulted in his death. The shocking deliberate indifference from local authorities stripped Kingsley of his last safeguard: the right to basic medical care. No one should lose their life in custody simply because those responsible choose silence and neglect over compassion and responsibility. A jail cell should never become a death sentence simply because cries for help were ignored.”

Following Bimpong’s death an investigation by Minnesota Department of Corrections found that jail staff were behind on mandatory CPR and first-aid training and that well-being checks were performed improperly. The jail also violated state law by failing to document medical information or conduct a mental health screening.

Despite overwhelming evidence of negligence , City of Eagan defended its officers releasing a statement claiming Bimpong “was not exhibiting an objectively serious medical condition that was obvious to lay persons at the time he was in custody.” That statement stands in stark contrast to video evidence and witness accounts describing his visible distress.

The family’s federal lawsuit filed by Robins Kaplan LLP seeks $120 million in damages and policy changes within both Eagan Police Department and Dakota County Jail. The suit names three Eagan officers and seven correctional officers as defendants citing violations of Bimpong’s Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

Kingsley Bimpong’s story is not an anomaly — it’s a symptom of a national crisis. Studies repeatedly show that Black Americans are less likely to have their medical symptoms believed or treated seriously even in emergency settings. From childbirth to cardiac arrest , failure to recognize pain or distress in Black bodies is throughline America’s healthcare and criminal justice systems.

State Rep Jess Hanson called for reforms to Hardel Sherrell Act legislation meant to ensure medical care in custody saying:

“The worst nightmare anybody can think of is you’re having a medical emergency , and you end up in jail,” Rep Hanson said. “In Kingsley’s case this was healthcare he should’ve gotten prior to entering custody so there is whole spectrum of places where we need to make changes,” said Rep Hanson who believes Act should’ve helped prevent Bimpong’s death . “Yes it should have prevented it but if we need do more let’s do more because it didn’t.”

Bimpong’s death represents yet another devastating example of how systemic racism , medical neglect ,and police indifference intersect to destroy Black lives.

Kingsley Bimpong did everything right . He worked paid taxes ,and sought help when his body was failing but system only chose see his Blackness — reflex criminalization that turned health crisis into death sentence leaving family fight not only justice but ensure no one else dies cold floor indifference.

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