RENO, Nev. (AP) - The parents of an inmate who died during a struggle with deputies at a Nevada jail have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Washoe County.
The suit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Reno accuses deputies of using excessive force and denying 35-year-old Justin Thompson adequate medical care before he died in August, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported (https://tinyurl.com/yb9sjnv6).
It’s the second lawsuit filed in connection with a two-year spike in deaths at the jail. A separate case makes similar claims about the 2015 death of inmate Niko Smith.
In an investigative series last month, the newspaper reported that the jail’s death rate since 2015 has been nearly five times higher than the national average.
Authorities say Thompson died while struggling with deputies for more than 30 minutes as they attempted to book him on Aug. 4 in a domestic battery case. Police say he spit in the face of a paramedic who had to sedate him before he could be restrained.
A criminal investigation by the Sparks Police Department found no criminal wrongdoing by deputies.
A video of the struggle obtained by the newspaper shows deputies putting a spit hood over Thompson’s face, kicking him in the side, kneeling on his lower back and pinning him on his stomach, apparently making it difficult for him to breathe.
Some deputies also used taunting language and called Thompson derogatory names, while others spoke to him calmly and professionally.
The Washoe County Medical Examiner listed Thompson’s cause of death as homicide due to complications of physical restraint.
Washoe County Sheriff Chuck Allen said after the video was released that the actions of the deputies “do not reflect the standards of the men and women who work for the sheriff’s office.”
Washoe County spokesman Bob Harmon told The Associated Press on Wednesday that an internal investigation was still in progress. He declined further comment.
Peter Goldstein, the lawyer representing Thompson’s parents, claims in the lawsuit that Thompson was no danger because he had been medicated earlier at a hospital, making him docile. Further details about events at the hospital were unclear.
Goldstein claimed deputies at the jail ignored Thompson’s repeated warnings that he could not breathe.
“They did not provide any help or even begin to appreciate the level of danger and harm decedent was experiencing,” the lawsuit states.
Thompson’s parents want the county to pay unspecified damages and funeral costs.
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Information from: Reno Gazette-Journal, https://www.rgj.com
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