Suit faults police in '12 death

6 officers, ex-chief named; claim 1 more in series, LR says

A San Francisco attorney who has pursued several wrongful-death lawsuits against Little Rock police officers in recent years filed one Tuesday over the July 8, 2012, death of 34-year-old Booker T. Davis Jr.

A police spokesman said at the time that officers went to Davis' home at 1416 S. Izard St. in response to a call about a man behaving "erratically." Once there, the spokesman said, the officers found Davis naked in the middle of the street and took him inside, where he struggled briefly with officers, was put in handcuffs and stopped breathing.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Booker T. Davis Sr., the executor of his son's estate, and names six officers and former Police Chief Stuart Thomas as defendants. It contends the officers used excessive force and were negligent and improperly trained, leading to Davis' death. It seeks compensatory and punitive damages.

In the lawsuit, attorney Mike Laux wrote that after an autopsy performed July 9, 2012, the manner of Booker Davis Jr.'s death was labeled "undetermined," and the cause of death was found to be phencyclidine toxicity, with contributing causes listed as "cardiomyopathy due to obesity, struggle, restraint, exertion and pepper (OC) spray exposure."

The lawsuit states that the person who called police reported that the person behaving erratically was high on "sherm," a street name for phencyclidine.

It says that officers David Green and Nura Austin responded to the call first, followed by officer Roy Williams. All three went inside Davis' home and a struggle ensued, it says, noting that Green pepper-sprayed Davis.

Another officer, Kelly Lepore, then arrived, and helped the other three officers throw Davis to the ground, where he was restrained and handcuffed, according to the lawsuit. It says that after the arrival of two more officers, Chris Alsbrook and James Wheeler, Lepore told Green, Austin and Wheeler "about the phenomenon of 'Excited Delirium,' and further advised them that she had recently received training from the [Little Rock Police Department] that was applicable to the situation they were then experiencing."

The lawsuit says Lepore requested leg restraints, which Alsbrook and Green placed on Davis. It says Davis then stopped breathing and was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker.

Asked about the lawsuit, City Attorney Tom Carpenter said Tuesday that he hadn't yet seen it, but, "the way that Mr. Laux is seeking clients and filing lawsuits, it doesn't surprise me."

Carpenter added, "Unfortunately, the city has to go try these cases, because there are people out there who want to take advantage of things that are going on across the country that aren't happening here."

All of the lawsuits that Laux has filed against Little Rock police allege that the city has a pattern of improperly training and disciplining officers. The latest suit contends that the pattern led to customs that "were moving forces behind the violations of Booker's constitutional rights."

Last month, Laux and his law partner, Michael Kelley, filed a federal lawsuit against former officer Josh Hastings and the department over the death of 15-year-old Bobby Joe Moore III, a car-burglary suspect who was shot to death by Hastings in 2012. Hastings was fired from the force and charged with manslaughter in Moore's death. Hastings went on trial twice -- with both cases ending in hung juries. Prosecutors declined to try him a third time and dropped the charge.

The attorneys represent Moore's mother, Sylvia Perkins of Little Rock.

In other wrongful-death suits against the city, Laux represents the families of Landris Hawkins, 28, who was fatally shot Nov. 3, 2009, after officers said he pointed a gun at his grandmother and an infant in an encounter that included him holding a knife to his throat; William Collin Spradling, 25, who was killed July 16, 2008, by officers investigating a burglary complaint; and Eugene Ellison, 67, who was shot and killed Dec. 9, 2010, in his apartment by two off-duty officers working as security guards.

Metro on 07/12/2015

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