French citizen’s jail death ruled suffocation

Ken Ritter

Monday, Feb. 12, 2001 | 3:58 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - A French citizen suffocated during a struggle with Clark County jail guards and an inquest will be held this month to determine if a crime was committed, authorities said Monday.

Coroner Ron Flud said an autopsy found no evidence that Philippe Le Menn was fatally beaten and said toxicologists found no drugs in his system.

"We found no traumatic injuries that would have caused death," Flud said. "He died from asphyxia."

Sheriff Jerry Keller said two sergeants and seven corrections officers were placed on administrative leave with pay on Monday pending the outcome of the inquest.

The coroner said it will be up to a jury of seven people to decide whether Le Menn died from being strangled, pressed to the floor while handcuffed, or choked with pepper spray - and whether the case is a criminal, excusable or justifiable homicide.

He said the inquest will be scheduled Feb. 23 and is expected to take one day.

The Jan. 4 death of the 33-year-old restaurant manager gained international attention after a security videotape of his struggle with jail guards aired on television in the United States and France.

Le Menn's family, supported by the French consulate in Los Angeles and the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, claims the video shows Le Menn being beaten to death.

However, Paul Hoffman, the family's lawyer, on Monday backed off earlier statements that a forensic pathologist hired by the family determined that Le Menn died of "blunt force trauma."

Hoffman said that after examining the body and organ specimens a week ago, Dr. Miles Jones, of Kansas City, Mo., "was not sure the preliminary finding will be his final view."

Jones could not be reached for comment.

Hoffman said it was obvious that Le Menn was beaten.

"The question is whether that caused his death," he said from his Los Angeles office. "That's much more complicated."

Hoffman said Le Menn's family intends to file a federal lawsuit in Las Vegas claiming wrongful death and civil rights violations.

The FBI, U.S. Justice Department, Nevada Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa and Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell said they would review the coroner's report to determine if a crime was committed.

Keller characterized the case as homicide investigation and said all evidence has been turned over to the FBI "because of the public outcry."

"The actions of these officers will be examined and scrutinized and judged based on the facts by seven people from the community," Keller said.

Flud would not elaborate on the county's autopsy findings, saying the evidence that led to his asphyxia ruling will be aired before the jury.

The coroner said Le Menn measured 6 feet 2 inches tall at autopsy and weighed 277 pounds.

He had been arrested by Clark County School District police on misdemeanor charges of annoying a minor, causing a disturbance on school property and disorderly conduct.

Police say Le Menn was so uncooperative during booking that the process was not completed. They said he had a California driver's license and reported living in Ivory Coast, but didn't say he was a French citizen.

The black-and-white stop-action videotape - provided by police to Le Menn's family, which released it to the media - shows four guards struggling with Le Menn on a cot and Le Menn almost escaping through the cell door before he is apparently squirted with pepper spray.

Police say the altercation began after officers removed one handcuff and Le Menn began to fight.

The video shows the struggle continuing for more than six minutes, with five guards surrounding Le Menn and then hunching over him as he collapses on the floor. It also shows guards trying to revive the naked prisoner.

The inquest jury could be asked to focus on whether Le Menn was stricken by "positional asphyxia" or overcome with pepper spray.

Positional asphyxia gained notoriety in August when a 19-year-old Las Vegas man was suffocated by aircraft passengers after he rushed the cockpit on a Southwest Airlines flight to Salt Lake City.

An autopsy found that Jonathan Burton died of "compressional and positional asphyxia" when his air was cut off while he was pressed to the cabin floor on his stomach.

"Rights for All," an Amnesty International USA position statement on police brutality, says people who are overweight, involved in violent struggles or are under the influence of drugs are at particular risk of positional asphyxia when hogtied.

The jail security video does not show Le Menn hogtied.

"The big issue is often the people who are the most difficult to deal are the people under the influence of some type of drug and involved in heavy exertion struggling with police," said Mario Tafur, an Amnesty western regional official in Culver City, Calif.

Pepper spray has also been a factor in asphyxia deaths.

"Pepper spray can affect breathing," Tafur said Monday. "We don't know how much pepper spray is potentially enough to kill someone. Very few (police) departments have guidelines limiting its use."

Other deaths from positional asphyxia have resulted from people being knelt on by police officers or pressed face-down on the ground, Amnesty reported.