An Alabama man is suing after his hand was amputated after police in the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department allegedly used excessive force during his Feb. 2020 arrest.
According to AL.com, Giovanni Loyola claimed that he was handcuffed for hours following his arrest, leading to the circulation in his wrist becoming blocked and his hand being amputated.
“It was real painful. It’s horrible,” Loyola told the outlet in 2021. "I don’t wish that pain on nobody. It’s just really unexpected. I have no words for it.”
On the evening of Feb. 16, 2020, Loyola was arrested for disorderly conduct/disturbing the peace. Loyola was 25 years old at the time. He denies that he was fighting with his brothers outside, but instead he was arguing with them.
In his complaint, Loyola said he was at his mother’s trailer watching television when several deputies arrived.
In a report filed by Deputy Christopher Godber six days after the arrest, Godber wrote that he and two other deputies came to the location after receiving several calls reporting gunshots and that two men were fighting. In Loyola's complaint, he says that the deputies entered the home with force, slammed him into a car, threw him on the ground and punched him in the face.
In his report to the magistrate, Deputy Godber reported that Loyola was intoxicated, having a slurred speech and arguing with family members inside his mother's trailer.
Loyola, who's reportedly 5'5 and 132 pounds, added that he pled for help in adjusting his handcuffs which deputies ignored, and that medical treatment was also denied once in jail.
“[He] was found to have a severe problem with blood flow to his left hand and is in need of emergent surgery,” the complaint read. On March 2, the tops of Loyola's three fingers were amputated, but the pain was so severe that he returned to the hospital. After ten months, several surgeries and various hospital visits, Loyola's hand was amputated.
Loyola, who is suing the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department with a trial scheduled for April 15, alleges that along with using excessive force, deputies also violated his civil rights.
