Overview
- Body-camera video shows deputies arresting Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky during a Lyft trip on April 13 in Miramar Beach, with two startled passengers exiting as guns were drawn.
- Prosecutors say an August 21, 2024 operation to remove William Bryan’s spleen instead took his liver, causing massive bleeding that led to the 70-year-old patient’s death.
- A Walton County grand jury indicted Shaknovsky on second-degree manslaughter about a week before the stop, and the sheriff’s office says he was told to surrender before the arrest, with arraignment set for May 19 and a potential 15-year sentence if convicted.
- Shaknovsky had driven for Lyft for more than a year with a five-star rating across over 3,000 rides, and the company says it removed him from the platform after learning of his arrest.
- Following the 2024 death, medical boards in Florida, Alabama, and New York stripped him of his licenses, and civil suits from Bryan’s widow and the family of Dorothy Dorsett remain active.