From June 11 through June 27, Stojcevski lost 50 pounds and ultimately died in the medical unit of the jail from benzodiazephine withdrawal when corrections officers failed to administer his prescribed medication.
He died alone, writhing in pain, and his last breath was captured in the footage.
“This is shameful, substantial and unconscionable neglect,” Robert Ihrie, senior partner at the law firm representing Stojcevski’s family told CBS Detroit.
“Like an animal, he’s crawling underneath something to die,” addiction expert Diane Rockwell told CBS as she reviewed the security footage.
In March, David Stojcevski’s brother Vladimir filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Sheriff Anthony Wickersham, 16 of his deputies, prison health care provider Correct Care Solutions, and several mental health workers.
“All of the named defendants herein were so deliberately indifferent to David’s mental health and medical needs that the defendants, named and unnamed in this litigation, monitored, watched and observed David spend the final 10 days of his life suffering excruciating benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms,” the suit claims.
The family has not disclosed the amount they are seeking, other than the fact that it is a “substantial amount.”
The lawsuit claims that jail officials knew about Stojcevski’s medications, including Xanax and methadone, and knew there was a potential for him to go through dangerous withdrawals.
Four days later, Stojcevski asked when he would be receiving his medication, and the jail informed him that none had been ordered for him.
Stojcevski would be dead less than a week later.
The final ten days of his life were spent in excruciating agony from the withdrawal symptoms, the lawsuit says.
