Plaintiff dies but suit against Metro will go forward

Jace Radke

Thursday, Sept. 30, 2004 | 8:52 a.m.

A Las Vegas woman suing Metro Police for $4 million because an officer dragged her through Palace Station, died earlier this month following a heart attack, her lawyer said this week.

Paula Sadoff, 56, died in her sleep on Sept. 16, but the federal lawsuit will go forward, according to her attorney, Brent Bryson.

Bryson said he suspects that her death was connected to the trauma and injuries Sadoff allegedly suffered at the hands of police in the early morning hours of Sept. 7, 2003, at Palace Station.

The lawsuit alleges that Sadoff suffered a broken wrist and a shattered kneecap while being manhandled and dragged through the lobby of the hotel. The suit relies on a video that shows Sadoff, handcuffed and being dragged out the doors of the hotel lobby by Officer Matthew Vorce.

It is unclear whether or not Sadoff was conscious as she was dragged.

The suit alleges that once she was outside the lobby Sadoff was "slammed against a police car and then slammed her on her knees on the concrete."

Police had been called to the hotel after Sadoff and her 84-year-old husband, Bob Sadoff, had argued in Jack's Irish Pub and then continued arguing in their adjoining rooms upstairs.

Sadoff and her husband were both arrested and charged with a domestic violence misdemeanor, but the charges were not pursued, Bryson said.

They spent a night in jail, and when they were released, Paula Sadoff said, she went to University Medical Center where she was diagnosed with a fractured wrist and a shattered kneecap.

Along with Vorce and Metro, Palace Station also is named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that the hotel's security officers did not investigate enough before calling Metro and caused Sadoff to be humiliated by allowing her to be dragged through the lobby.

The suit asks for $10,000 in compensatory damages from the hotel, and $3 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages from Metro.