LAS VEGAS (AP) - Relatives of a Wisconsin man who died in jail custody a year ago and a North Las Vegas man shot and killed by patrol officers two years ago filed separate federal civil rights lawsuits this week against Las Vegas police.
Nicholas Farah’s father, Craig Farah, seeks unspecified monetary damages from the department and eight officers after the Clark County coroner ruled last year that Farah’s death at the Clark County Detention Center in March 2019 was a homicide due to asphyxia during restraint procedures.
Junior David Lopez’s mother, Brenda Martinez, seeks at least $75,000 and changes in police training following Lopez’s death in April 2018. Police said at the time that body camera video showed Lopez telling police to shoot him and reaching toward a gun on the ground.
Officer Aden OcampoGomez said Friday the department does not comment about lawsuits.
The Farah complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas accuses the department and the jail officers of excessive force, negligence and wrongful death after Farah, 36, of Appleton, Wisconsin, was brought to the jail.
Police last year showed jail video of four officers seating Farah in a rigid “restraint chair” after he was deemed uncooperative during his arrest at a Las Vegas motel where managers summoned police and said Farah had been loitering and refused to leave.
Farah apparently became unconscious while being pushed forward in a seated position as jailers removed and replaced his handcuffs.
Police said they were conducting internal criminal and administrative investigations into Farah’s death. Results were not been made public.
The Lopez complaint, filed Tuesday, said Lopez’s fiance and another woman were in the car while Lopez, 22, got out of the driver’s seat, and that Lopez was on his knees with his hands in the air when he was shot.
The lawsuit said Lopez intended “to push the handgun further away from him in order to comply with the officers’ demands,” and that Lopez did not tell officers to shoot him.
Police said Lopez had been driving recklessly when the car was stopped and that tests later found his blood-alcohol content was 0.17%, more than twice the legal limit. The women in the car were not injured and were not charged with a crime.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that Lopez’s fiance said he twice applied to join the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and had been scheduled to take a written exam before he died.
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