Mercer man says he was injured by police, hospital staff

PRINCETON -- A Mercer County man is suing over claims he was injured by police and hospital staff after a misunderstanding.

Joel Yunik filed a lawsuit June 30 in Mercer Circuit Court against Princeton Community Hospital Association Inc., Matthew M. Sisk, Captain Keith Compton, Sergeant Tommy Bailey, Officer Dustin Morey, Lieutenant Tim Gray and the city of Princeton, citing battery.

According to the complaint, on July 4, 2012, Yunik was in the emergency room at Princeton Community Hospital seeking treatment for pain from a previous motor vehicle collision, when nurses misconstrued something Yunik said as suicidal and moved him to a special room. Yunik said he was not informed of the reason for the move, and thus left the room to find his friends in the parking lot.

According to the lawsuit, hospital security staff and Princeton Police Department officers came after Yunik and pulled him through the window of his friend's truck and onto the ground, which fractured his arm, before readmitting him to the hospital for the new injuries sustained. The defendants are accused of negligent hiring/training and negligence and battery.

Yunik is seeking damages and attorney's fees.

He is being represented in the case by attorneys W. Stuart Calwell Jr. and David H. Carriger of The Calwell Practice PLLC in Charleston. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Omar J. Aboulhosn.

Mercer Circuit Court Case No. 14-C-434-OA