Case of French citizen goes to FBI

Keith Paul

Monday, Feb. 12, 2001 | 11:29 a.m.

The death of a French citizen who struggled with jail guards has been classified as a homicide, and Metro Police turned over all information in the case to the FBI, officials told the Sun this morning.

A coroner's inquest jury of area citizens will decide if the jail guards should be held criminally responsible for the Jan. 4 death of 33-year-old Philippe Le Menn, who died inside the jail cell while struggling with up to five guards. Le Menn died from asphyxia, a source told the Sun.

Metro officials, who also run the jail, have been criticized for their handling of Le Menn's death and gave all the information about the case to the FBI last week so agents can conduct a review of what happened, a source close to the investigation told the Sun.

Le Menn's family and American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada officials have been requesting for weeks that federal authorities investigate the case, which has drawn national and international attention.

Metro officials would not comment on Le Menn's death, and Coroner Ron Flud could not be reached for comment this morning. A press conference was scheduled for this afternoon to release the findings of the autopsy.

A finding of homicide in Le Menn's death is a legal term noting the killing of one person by another, but does not attach criminal charges. That is up to a coroner's inquest and ultimately the district attorney.

Listing a death as homicide does not assess any criminal responsibility and is a standard manner of death, said Dr. Gregory J. Davis, associated chief medical examiner for Kentucky and spokesman on forensic issues for the American College of Pathologists, a professional organization of more than 16,000 pathologists.

"Most lay people hear homicide and think it is equivalent to murder, but it is not," said Davis, who has no connection to the Le Menn autopsy. "The finding of homicide in a case no way says the police did something wrong or didn't do something wrong."

A person can die from asphyxia without someone else putting hands around the neck. One way is if a person is lying on the stomach and others are on the person's back. That creates pressure on the diaphragm so the person cannot breathe, Davis said.

Federal officials along with the French government and citizens have been waiting for the outcome of the autopsy since a video from a jail surveillance camera that captured the struggle was released and broadcast in this country and in France.

Le Menn's family hired noted civil rights attorney Paul Hoffman, who with the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada is preparing to file a federal lawsuit against the jail.

The family has publicly doubted Metro's and the coroner's ability to conduct an impartial investigation and hired their own pathologist and investigators.

"I have zero faith in (Metro) because all of their comment (about Le Menn) make me think they are trying to cover up the whole thing," Philip Moreau, Le Menn's cousin who lives in Los Angeles, said Sunday night. "I just want them to be finished with it so we can go forward with our investigation."

Gary Peck, ACLU of Nevada executive director, has voiced his lack of faith in Metro in the weeks after Le Menn's death and does not believe the findings of the coroner will give an accurate picture of what happened to the French citizen.

"I certainly have no confidence in either the coroner's office or Metro to conduct a full and fair investigation into exactly what happened in the jail on Jan. 4," Peck said. "The track record into this matter is clear, and we are certainly not relying on their findings to uncover the truth. We have believed all along there is simply no excuse for what happened to Mr. Le Menn."

The U.S. Justice Department and the FBI have been monitoring the case along with officials from the French Consulate in Los Angeles.

Le Menn began acting strangely in the weeks before his death, family members and police said. He gathered up personal papers and gave them to a friend to hold on to saying people were following him. Le Menn called Metro Police a week before his arrest from a pay phone outside of a drug store claiming people were following him.

Then about 9 a.m. on Jan. 4, Clark County School Police arrested Le Menn at Marion Earl Elementary School after reports that he banged on the doors of a school bus, put his arm around a child and yelled at officers, "I'm here to help the children. I'm here to save them."

Le Menn was booked into the jail on loitering about schools, disorderly conduct and annoyance of a minor charges -- all misdemeanors. Police said Le Menn stripped off his clothing, plugged up the toilet and flooded the cell. He was also making bizarre statements about being Christ.

Davis said in other deaths of people while in custody, there have been incidents when someone has a psychotic episode that leads to becoming verbally and physically disruptive. Such people have worked themselves up into a manic state and if they start to struggle with officers can die from asphyxia -- but a contributing factor is what he called "acute exhaustive mania."

"I'm not saying they did or didn't do anything wrong, but in sudden, unexpected deaths dealing with asphyxia, there could be another factor, especially when there is a psychotic break," he said, noting he was not speaking specifically about Le Menn's death.

The Justice Department does not have a current investigation into Le Menn's death, but it could be included in an ongoing probe of the jail begun in 1997, said Christine Romano, a department spokeswoman.

From 1998 to last year, 20 inmates have died inside the Clark County jail -- nine suicides and 11 determined to be natural deaths, said Capt. Henry Hoogland, a jail supervisor.

Le Menn was the first jail death this year. The struggle started after he was taken to another cell after he made several bizarre statements, officials said.

Le Menn was handcuffed and taken to another cell that was equipped with a videocamera, which enabled jail officials to watch him. Jailers were concerned about Le Menn's mental stability after the statements he made, Hoogland said.

Once one of the guards took off one handcuff, the struggle with Le Menn started. As many as five officers wrestled with Le Menn in the small cell for about five minutes before he stopped moving. Guards started CPR, but Le Menn later died.

The struggle was recorded by the stop-frame surveillance camera. Le Menn's family and attorneys say the tape shows guards beating him to death. Police say the tape shows guards trying to regain control of a prisoner, and there are no signs of the guards beating him.