Update 4:30 p.m.: Dontrell Stephens' attorney said Thursday that because the sheriff's office has appealed the federal jury's verdict that a deputy violated Stephens constitutional rights by shooting him in 2013, Stephens has not seen any of the money from the lawsuit and has no resources of his own.
“He continues to have an extremely difficult time,” Jack Scarola said. “I can tell you he has been placed in a situation many people would consider intolerable.”
Stephens, who is paralyzed, has been relying “off the generosity of friends” to get by and on emergency room visits for medical needs.
Scarola, who represented Stephens during the civil case, said Stephens would not be in this position if the sheriff’s office agreed to pay the sovereign immunity to “keep him alive” as the parties wait for the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to make its decision in the case. Under Florida’s laws, the most the state or its agencies can be forced to pay from the lawsuit is $200,000.
“It’s absolutely unconscionable,” he said of the refusal.
Scarcola said he hasn’t spoken with Stephens since his arrest Thursday morning, but his office is making arrangements to represent him.
He said he didn’t t know the circumstances surrounding Stephens’ arrest and isn’t suggesting any excuse for what Stephens is accused of, but said that if Stephens was compelled to sell drugs as alleged, “he was pushed to financial desperation by an unreasonable position of the sheriff’s office,” Scarola said.
Original Story: The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office has arrested the 23-year-old man who won a $22.4 million civil lawsuit this year after a deputy shot and paralyzed him.
Dontrell Stephens faces multiple drug related charges including selling heroin, marijuana and cocaine, according to Palm Beach County Jail records. He was booked into the jail at 10 a.m.
The sheriff's office shared the arrest on several of its social media accounts saying, "If you sell drugs near a DAY CARE CENTER you are going to get #BUSTED."
An arrest report for Stephens was not yet available with the Palm Beach County clerk’s office. Details about the arrest were not immediately available.
After the suit, Stephens's attorney Jack Scarola said he was "worried" about his client "living long enough to see one dollar of this verdict," At the time he said Stephens needed the money now because he suffers bed sores that can be fatal to paraplegics.
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