Settlement Reached With Handcuffed Nurse

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Mar 3, 2010 5:30PM

Lisa Hofstra, the nurse who was handcuffed because she refused to collect a blood sample from a suspected drunken driver and subsequently sued the City, has reached a settlement with the City for $78,000.

On August 1, 2009, Chicago Police Officer Marcelo Rodriguez asked Lisa Hofstra, a nurse in the emergency room at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, to take a blood sample from a driver involved in a potential DUI accident to determine her blood-alcohol level. Hofstra asked Rodriguez to wait until she could consult with her supervisor because it was against hospital protocol to take a blood sample from someone who was not admitted as a patient. Before the supervisor could respond, the officer cuffed Hofstra and put her in the back of a squad car for about 45 minutes before she was released from custody. Officer Rodriguz told the court Hofstra was obstructing justice but never resisted arrest.

Hofstra later filed a civil lawsuit claiming excessive force was used, alleging the handcuffs were too tight, and arrest without probable cause. After the settlement was reached, Hofstra's attorney, Blake Horwitz, said, "It is important to remember that nurses work for hospitals and not the Chicago Police Department."

As for the driver involved in the accident? The Sun-Times reports:

The driver, Raquel Wright, 47, was arrested for allegedly striking 24-year-old motorcyclist Alexandru Foamete with her Volvo at 3:05 a.m. Aug. 1 at Ashland and Wilson on the North Side. She failed a field sobriety test and refused further tests, police said. Foamete died Aug. 7. Wright has been charged with reckless homicide and aggravated DUI.