LAWSUIT: Port St. Lucie dentist terrified worker with staff meeting gunplay
Imagine if Dr. Thomas Floyd had a gun in his office !!! He would have shot children instead of jabbing them in the mouth with pliers and beating them in the stomach.PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- A lawsuit filed by a former employee claims a Port St. Lucie dentist waved a gun around at a staff meeting, telling staff to "sit down and stay in line."
Everyone agrees the dentist had a gun at work that day.Police reports show six detailed accounts of the same meeting. But the State Attorney's office here never pursued charges against the dentist -- Dr. Conrad Jim Kusel Jr. of the Kusel Dentistry practice in Port St. Lucie.
Lawyers for former receptionist Sunday Sack, a 13-year employee there, say she suffered post-traumatic stress disorder from the February incident in which she and others allege Kusel pulled the gun in an angry tone and said "everyone is going to sit down now and and I'm sure everyone is going to stay in line during the meeting, right?"
Sunday Sack: "That morning that gun was pointed and cocked it, and started to talk, I saw that vein, I saw that vein popping..I literally froze and basically fell down into my chair..I was like paralyzed."
Kusel's brother Brian Kusel is also a dentist there. The suit also names him for not intervening in the situation.
The lawsuit does not specify damages, but Sack says she planned to work there for the rest of her life and is seeking money for lost wages and distress. She's been attending counseling since the incident in February and says she was so affected, she spent months hiding in her own closet fearing for her life.
Sack is now on Social Security disability for her diagnosed trauma. In police reports, Kusel defended his actions by saying the gun was bought with money the staff had given him for the holidays, and he was showing off what he'd purchased. Since the gun-waving incident, three other employees have left the practice.
