Skull fracture claimed in lawsuit

Kim Smith

Thursday, Oct. 28, 1999 | 10:07 a.m.

A 37-year-old Las Vegas man has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of North Las Vegas claiming he suffered a skull fracture while in police custody in early January 1998.

According to the lawsuit, Jeffrey Smith now suffers from permanent brain injuries as a result of being beaten sometime between Jan. 27, 1998, and Jan. 30, 1998.

Also named in the lawsuit were the North Las Vegas Police Department and the North Las Vegas Detention Center.

Tim Ryan, deputy chief of the North Las Vegas Police Department, declined to comment on the suit, saying he had not seen it. Calls to the city attorney's office were not returned.

Cal Potter, Smith's attorney, said his client was arrested while allegedly trying to break into a Lake Mead Boulevard fast-food restaurant through a back door.

Because Smith was extremely intoxicated and delusional, and, in fact, had just been released from Lake Mead Hospital, the officer took him back to the hospital, Potter said.

Upon his release from the hospital that same day and while still delusional, Smith was booked into the North Las Vegas Detention Center, Potter said. Three days later, he was found unconscious in his cell, taken to University Medical Center and diagnosed with a skull fracture.

Potter said Smith also had injuries to his legs and back.

According to the lawsuit, the city has a "de facto policy to summarily punish citizens who officers know or think they know have records and/or those who refuse to obey orders even if they think the orders are unlawful."

Smith is seeking unspecified damages.