NORTH VERNON — A woman has sued Ascension St. Vincent Jennings Hospital in North Vernon and the Jennings County Sheriff’s Department, claiming she was falsely imprisoned after she reported receiving death threats.
An attorney for Amber Keebler filed the lawsuit seeking damages June 12 in Jennings Superior Court after filing a tort claim notice in March 2023. That notice, required by law when suing public agencies, put the hospital and the sheriff’s office on notice of Keebler’s claims alleging her Fourth Amendment constitutional protections against unlawful seizure and her civil rights were violated.
Keebler’s complaint alleges she reported receiving death threats on Jan. 27, 2023, and that two Jennings County Sheriff deputies came to her home to listen to the recorded threats.
The suit claims the threats exacerbated Keebler’s heart condition, and she went to the hospital emergency room despite concerns that a relative of the person accused of making the threats worked there.
Keebler’s complaint claims that a hospital employee who was friends with the person accused of making the threats wrongfully intervened and prevented her discharge. She further alleges that one of the deputies who listened to the recorded threats “arrived at the hospital and gave an incorrect statement” to justify her detention.
The complaint alleges Keebler was placed on a 72-hour mental health hold and taken to a mental health treatment facility as a result of the alleged incorrect statement, but that the hold was lifted after about 36 hours when Keebler’s treating physician intervened. Keebler’s complaint says she subsequently reported the incident to the North Vernon Police Department.
“… (E)mployees of the St. Vincent Jennings Hospital, Inc. and the Jennings County Sheriff subjected her to an unlawful arrest, detention, and imprisonment without probable cause … when Plaintiff posed no threat to herself and others, and did not meet any of the criteria to justify an emergency mental health detention,” Keebler’s complaint says.
Neither the sheriff’s office nor the hospital have yet to formally respond to the complaint. An attorney representing the hospital, Stacey Hanefield of Carmel, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
As of Thursday, no attorney had entered an appearance in the case for the sheriff’s department, and Jennings County Sheriff Kenny Freeman did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Claims made in filing a lawsuit represent only one side of the case and may be contested in later court action.
