Mr. Wrong

Assuming that everything Eugene Wright says is true, this is all kinds of messed up and I’d hate to be the person tasked with defending against his recently filed lawsuit. It’s frightening to think that even though these sorts of things don’t happen on the regular, it wouldn’t take all that much laziness and irresponsibility or that many unhappy coincidences for him to be any of us.

The suit claims Wright has the same name as a different Eugene Wright who had been at an orthopedic physician’s office around 10 a.m. June 15, 2017, and made threats to hurt himself and others.
The suit alleges on June 15, 2017, at about 1:45 p.m., Wright was walking outside his home to his vehicle, when he saw two Meadville Police Department officers and Robin Dowling, executive director of Stairways Behavioral Health, standing beside his vehicle.
The suit claims one of the officers then told Wright of the office incident. Wright said they were mistaken because he had been working his job as a customer service representative at Advance Auto Parts of Meadville at the time of the office incident, according to the suit.
Wright asked the police officers and Dowling to call the auto parts store to verify Wright had been at work that morning, but they refused, the suit says.
Wright then was handcuffed, but Wright repeatedly told police they had the wrong person and repeatedly requested he be able to show his identification and Social Security card to prove it, according to the suit.
The suit claims after arriving at the hospital, the hospital staff didn’t check Wright’s identification even though Wright previously was a patient at Meadville Medical Center. The hospital had medical records with Wright’s correct identification information, according to the suit.
The suit says a doctor then ordered Wright be injected with a chemical sedation of intramuscular Haldol and Ativan. Haldol is an anti-psychotic medication, and Ativan is benzodiazepam used to treat anxiety disorders.
Wright told the nurse he didn’t want to be injected with drugs and repeatedly said the wrong person was at the hospital, the suit claims.
One of the police officers then told Wright if he didn’t agree to receive the shots, officers would hold Wright down so the nurse could inject him, the suit said.
Wright didn’t want to be held down by police but was given no choice in the matter, so he eventually permitted the nurse to administer him the two shots, the suit states. The drugs Wright was given were against his will and ordered for the specifications of the wrong individual, the suit claims.
After that, according to the suit, “things were starting to get pretty fuzzy” for Wright.

Eventually officials were convinced by his daughter that maybe they ought to make sure they had the right Wright before things got any further out of hand. It was quickly determined that nobody had bothered to verify addresses or medical records or literally anything at all, and that Mr. Wright had indeed been wronged. He was then released and apologies were made. And what generous apologies they were.

The suit says the hospital later apologized to Wright and gave him a $50 gift card for Montana’s Rib and Chop House. The suit says the following day Stairways Behavioral representatives went to Wright’s home to apologize and give Wright a $25 Wal-Mart gift card.

His “sorry we kidnapped you and recklessly shot you full of drugs” edible arrangement should be arriving any day now.

The suit names the Meadville Medical Center, the entire Meadville Police Department, two specific officers identified only as John and Jack Doe, police Chief Michael Tautin and Stairways Behavioral Health as defendants. Nothing I’ve read lists an amount for damages. Also unreported is whether or not Wright has or intends to use his gift certificates, something I’m quite curious to find out.