Brooklyn, NY – A federal judge has pared down a lawsuit brought by a pretrial detainee who says prison officers ignored his desperate pleas for help after he was stabbed while trying to watch the BET Awards inside the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center.
Nigel Livingston, who entered federal custody in August 2021, claims he was attacked on June 26, 2022, when he left his cell around 8:30 p.m. to watch the televised awards show downstairs. According to his complaint, officers Miguel Mateo and an unidentified female officer were “inside the office bubble talking with inmates” instead of monitoring the housing unit when two prisoners armed with sharp objects ambushed him outside his cell.
Livingston says he was stabbed in the neck and right hand, leaving him in excruciating pain. He used towels to try to stop the bleeding and ran to the officers, telling them he had been stabbed and needed immediate medical attention. Instead, he alleges, they told him to return to his cell and wait.
For the next 18 hours, Livingston says, he screamed in pain but received no medical care. Only when he met with his attorney the following afternoon did staff respond, taking him to a hospital where he received 18 stitches in his neck, seven stitches in his hand, antibiotics, and x-rays. He was kept overnight before being returned to the jail, where he was placed in solitary confinement for a month without his family or attorney being informed.
Livingston sued the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act for negligence and the officers under Bivens for violating his Fifth Amendment rights. The court had previously allowed the negligence claim to proceed. But on Monday, U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan dismissed the Bivens claim, ruling that Supreme Court precedent bars extending such constitutional actions into new contexts.
Judge Cogan emphasized that the Supreme Court has repeatedly limited Bivens remedies since Carlson v. Green (1980), which permitted a constitutional damages claim for inadequate medical care in prison. Livingston’s claim, though similar, arose under the Fifth Amendment because he was a pretrial detainee, not a convicted prisoner. That distinction, the judge said, was enough to foreclose the constitutional claim.
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Livingston continues to allege permanent scars, lasting pain, limited use of his right hand, and post-traumatic stress from the attack and delayed care. His negligence case against the United States remains pending.
Key Points
- Nigel Livingston was stabbed while heading to watch the BET Awards at Brooklyn’s federal jail in June 2022.
- He says officers ignored his pleas for medical attention for 18 hours until his attorney intervened.
- Judge Brian Cogan dismissed his Bivens claim against the officers but left his negligence claim against the U.S. intact.