Trooper Mistook Her Stroke for Drunk Driving, Jury Holds State Liable
After trial: Reduced and paid. The $19.1 million damages finding was cut by the 40 percent share attributed to the stroke itself and adjusted for disability benefits, giving a judgment of $10,882,432.20 (Daily Voice, February 2025).
Won by The Donnelly Law Firm.
Cheryl Rhines pulled onto the shoulder of Route 78 in Newark in October 2017 while having a stroke. A New Jersey State Police trooper with about two years on the job read her slurred speech, facial drooping and inability to stand as intoxication, arrested her, and had her taken to a State Police station instead of a hospital five minutes away, delaying treatment by roughly two and a half hours. An Essex County jury found the state liable in January 2025 and put her total damages at $19.1 million, then attributed 40% of her disability to the stroke itself. After that reduction and an adjustment for disability benefits she had already received, the judgment came to $10,882,432.20, and the trial judge refused to disturb it in April 2025. Dennis M. Donnelly represented Rhines, who has global aphasia and can no longer work.
What happened
On October 17, 2017, Cheryl Rhines was driving to work on Route 78 in Newark, at about 8 a.m., when she began having a stroke. She pulled onto the shoulder and struck a guardrail. Rhines was 48, lived in Jersey City and worked as an event planner. A New Jersey State Police trooper, Jennifer Albuja, arrived roughly thirty minutes later.
Rhines could not answer questions, speak clearly or stand on her own, and one side of her face had drooped. Albuja found no odor of alcohol and no sign of drug use, and Rhines had no prior offenses, but the trooper concluded she was intoxicated. Instead of taking her to a hospital about five minutes away, Albuja searched the car, handcuffed Rhines and had her brought to the State Police station in Somerville.
Station personnel eventually recognized that Rhines was having a medical emergency and called an ambulance. Her lawyer told reporters she was left shackled on the floor while they waited. About two and a half hours passed before she got medical attention. She spent nearly two weeks in the hospital and another month in a rehabilitation center. She was left with global aphasia, a language disorder that impairs both speaking and understanding speech, along with permanent cognitive and motor deficits. She could not return to work and moved from New Jersey to Nashville to live with her mother, who helps care for her.
Rhines and her mother sued the State of New Jersey, the State Police and Albuja in 2019, arguing the trooper's failure to recognize a stroke and get her to a hospital caused the lasting brain damage. The case was tried in the Law Division in Essex County before Judge Thomas Vena. Dennis M. Donnelly represented Rhines.
Jurors decided the case on January 29, 2025, after a trial that ran nearly a month. They put her total damages at $19.1 million, covering pain and suffering and disability, emotional distress, future medical care and lost income. They also found that 60% of her disability came from the delay in treatment and 40% from the stroke itself, which the trooper had not caused. The court applied that apportionment and adjusted the lost income component for disability benefits Rhines had already received, which brought the judgment to $10,882,432.20.
The state asked Judge Vena for a new trial or a reduced award, arguing the damages were excessive, that jurors should not have compensated both emotional distress and pain and suffering, and that evidence of Rhines being shackled was prejudicial. In April 2025 he denied the motion, writing that there was sufficient evidence to support the verdict the jury reached. News accounts of the final figure differ, as set out in the note below, and no New Jersey Appellate Division docket for the case has surfaced since.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.New Jersey Monitor, Feb 5 2025·Archived copy
- 2.Daily Voice, Feb 7 2025·Archived copy
- 3.New Jersey Monitor via NJToday, Apr 15 2025·Archived copy
- 4.New Jersey 101.5, Apr 2025·Archived copy
- 5.Newsweek, Feb 2025·Archived copy
- 6.Raw Story, Feb 6 2025·Archived copy
- 7.EMS1, Feb 2025: permanent verbal, cognitive and motor deficits, the comparative apportionment between the delay and the stroke·Archived copy
- 8.New Jersey Courts: Rhines v. State of New Jersey, docket L-580-19 (Judge Vena)
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