Heriberto Sanchez-Mayen sued St. Pete and its police in 2024 after he suffered major injuries in 2023 while being transported in a police van.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill to compensate a man who sustained catastrophic injuries while being transported in a police van, which ultimately led to him becoming paralyzed and having both legs amputated.
According to bill HB6517, Heriberto Sanchez-Mayen sued the city of St. Petersburg and two police officers over his arrest before reaching a $2.5 million settlement with the municipality in March of 2025. The city already paid $200,000 into a trust account, and, with the bill signed, the state will provide relief for the remaining $2.3 million, plus attorney fees.
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Sanchez-Mayen suffered his injuries back in 2023, when a police officer found him asleep on a piece of cardboard on 15th Street. The officer arrested him for trespassing.
According to the bill, Sanchez-Mayen was handcuffed by an officer who “attached a metal belly chain, which restricted the use of his arms, and placed him unsecured, without a seatbelt, or other stationary tethering, on a metal bench in the back of a metal van.”
While Sanchez-Mayen was being transported, the van “stopped short for a red light,” which caused him to be thrown “head first from the back of the van into the bulkhead, where he lay motionless,” the bill describes. Instead of taking him to a hospital, police continued driving the van towards the jail. Upon arrival, the officer removed Sanchez-Mayen from the van by dragging him by his feet, “causing his head to strike the rear bumper, the rear door, and the cement floor.”
Doctors determined that Sanchez-Mayen’s injuries caused a closed displaced fracture of the third cervical vertebra, a closed odontoid fracture, dissection of the descending thoracic aorta and spinal cord compression, “which ultimately led to amputation of both of his legs above the knees, rendering him an incomplete quadriplegic,” the bill states.
Since then, doctors determined that Sanchez-Mayen will require healthcare services and support for the rest of his life, according to the bill.
“Mr. Sanchez-Mayen is in a nursing home completely paralyzed with no legs,” Attorney Thomas Scolaro told 10 Tampa Bay News back in 2024. “That is his sentence now for simply sleeping in a public lot. They sure taught him a lesson.” The attorney noted then that the charges for trespassing were dismissed.
You can watch our previous coverage of this case here:
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