Department of Justice adds French man’s death to its ongoing investigation

Ken Ritter

Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2001 | 6:27 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - The U.S. Justice Department is reviewing the death of French citizen Philippe Le Menn as part of an ongoing investigation of Clark County jail conditions.

Le Menn, a 33-year-old restaurant manager, was the 24th jail inmate to die from suicide or "natural causes" since the Department of Justice began its probe in 1997.

The Jan. 4 death has renewed criticism by the American Civil Liberties Union about what it calls a "seamy underbelly" of heavy-handed policing behind the glitz and glamor of tourist-dependent Las Vegas.

Le Menn's cousin, Philip Moreau, alleges that Le Menn died of head injuries in a beating by jail guards and has asked French diplomatic officials to request an FBI investigation.

Casey Stavropoulos, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department's civil rights division in Washington, said Wednesday that the circumstances surrounding Le Menn's death are being reviewed. She couldn't provide details of that review, but added that a 1997 investigation remains open.

Police say a coroner's ruling will show if a crime was committed in Le Menn's death. Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell said he will rely on the police investigation to show if anyone should be prosecuted.

State Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said her office will wait for the Clark County coroner's ruling before deciding whether to investigate.

Gary Peck, chief of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, stopped short Wednesday of alleging that guards killed Le Menn, whose friends said he began acting erratically days before his death.

"He was clearly beaten, and beaten unnecessarily," Peck said. He said the videotape shows guards pushing, wrestling and squirting Le Menn with pepper spray repeatedly.

Videotaped images beamed internationally of a Le Menn going limp while surrounded by guards has thrust the jail and its administrators - into the limelight usually reserved for Las Vegas casinos.

But if the incident was having any image impact abroad or at home, one tourism official said it hasn't been felt on the Strip.

"We haven't heard alarm bells from our representative in Paris," said Rob Powers, spokesman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

"There's always a buzz when a Las Vegas story airs on the national news, "Good bad or indifferent," Powers said. "The image that Las Vegas portrays to the world is vitally important."

The ACLU's Peck said the problem is that in Las Vegas, image trumps rights.

"Ours is a community where the police and the justice system have criminalized poverty and mental illness," Peck said. "The police routinely arrest poor folks and those with mental problems for such heinous crimes as jaywalking, improper use of a bus stop bench and obstructing pedestrian traffic on the sidewalk."

Sweeping undesirables off the Strip puts too many people in jail, Peck said, pointing to a 1998 Justice Department report about the jail.

The Justice Department report cited overcrowding and problems including inadequate medical care for inmates with physical and mental illness, poor sanitation and inadequate supervision.

The county jail is administered by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Jail and police officials concede overcrowding is a problem - and will be until a new $83 million seven-story wing opens next year.

Deputy Police Chief Bill Young, who oversees operations at the 12-story facility, pointed to the tremendous population growth in the Las Vegas area since the facility opened 1984.

He said that since 1997 there have been 10 suicides and 13 deaths from what the jail classifies as natural causes - anything from heart attack to injuries sustained in fights. He maintained that the numbers were low, considering the jail had an average daily census of 2,325 last year.

On Wednesday, there were 1,704 inmates in the downtown jail, but only 1,488 beds. Paul Martin, director of the staff operations, said an additional 602 inmates were being housed in lockups in neighboring Henderson, North Las Vegas and at a Las Vegas city jail. Some inmates were sleeping on military cots in day rooms and others were housed in holding cells without beds.