NFL Fan Says Security Wand Almost Killed Him

HOUSTON (CN) - Football stadium security guards put a cancer survivor in the hospital by ignoring his pleas that scanning him with a metal detector would threaten his life, the man claims in court.

Roger Contreras claims that "overzealous" security guards at the Houston Texans' home stadium scanned him with a metal detector that shut off a medical pump inside him - as he warned them it would.

Contreras, 48, who survived a bout with cancer in 2012, has an intrathecal pump in his stomach that delivers pain medicine and antibiotics through a catheter to his spinal fluid, his attorney Joe Melugin said in an interview.

Contreras showed a security supervisor and a guard a card from the pump manufacturer, that attorney said.

"He explains that to the guy," Melugin said. "The guy says, 'OK, well get back in line.' So he goes back and gets in line. He walks forward and pulls up his shirt like he's going to be patted down. Without saying anything the guy just wands him.

"He jumped back and said 'What the hell is going on? What are you guys doing? I said I can't be wanded.' And so they let him through at that point."

Melugin said Contreras began vomiting shortly after he settled into a seat and was rushed to a hospital, where doctors performed surgery and found that the pump was off. He was hospitalized for several days.

Contreras could have died, his attorney said, because the metal detector "could have messed with the pump's settings" and overdosed him on pain medicine.

Contreras seeks $1 million in punitive damages for assault, gross negligence and negligent hiring.

He sued the security company working the September 2014 game at NRG Stadium: Contemporary Services Corp. and its John Doe security guard. He also sued Aramark Facility Services and FMG Partners, who manage NRG Stadium together under the business name SMG.

An Aramark spokesman declined to comment. The manager of Contemporary Services Corp.'s Houston office did not respond to an email.

Melugin is with Fibich Leebron Copeland Briggs & Josephson, of Houston.

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