Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Family of Frenchman who died in jail plans suit

A noted civil rights attorney hired by the family of a Frenchman who died in custody at the Clark County jail said a lawsuit against Metro Police could be filed as early as next week in the case that is being watched by the highest levels of French and U.S. governments.

Paul Hoffman, an attorney based in Venice, Calif., said he watched the tape of the Jan. 4 struggle between Philippe Le Menn, 33, and as many as five jail guards that ended with Le Menn's death.

"He was clearly beaten," said Hoffman, who is on the international board of directors of Amnesty International and has argued in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. "Our position is the cause of death was trauma induced by the guards."

Hoffman and the family are holding a press conference on Monday morning in Los Angeles where details of an independent autopsy, paid for by the family, may be released along with statements by the family and French diplomatic officials.

Metro is waiting on the cause of death from the Clark County coroner's office before making any determinations.

Sheriff Jerry Keller said detectives have not come to any conclusions yet because the investigation is incomplete. He chided those who have made conclusions before the coroner releases his findings.

"No one's waiting for the facts to be established," Keller said. "There are people in the community like (Las Vegas American Civil Liberties Union executive director) Gary Peck who rides on the back of Metro to gain notoriety and who speaks without any substantial facts."

Keller said he's not making any judgments about what happened in the jail cell until the investigation is completed.

Peck said he has no faith that Metro will conduct a fair investigation of what happened in the cell. He claims that Metro instead is trying to come up with explanations to cover their actions that led to Le Menn's death.

"From my perspective they simply don't like that ... the light of public scrutiny is being shown on the way in which business is done in the jail," Peck said. "Metro seems more interested in justifying their own behavior than aggressively investigating what actually happened in the jail."

Le Menn's family wants the lawsuit to not only expose the treatment of Le Menn but also others at the jail, Hoffman said.

"We believe very strongly Mr. Le Menn's constitutional rights were violated in the jail and his international human rights were violated as well," Hoffman said. "A lawsuit can't bring him back. The family hopes that this will assist in making sure another tragedy doesn't occur (in the jail)."

Hoffman said there is no rush to file the lawsuit, but it will occur as early as next week. He said the family is grieving Le Menn's death now, and there is time for the legal action later.

Mass will be celebrated Sunday in Los Angeles for Le Menn.

Le Menn's cousin, Philip Moreau, said the furor in the French community in Los Angeles over his cousin's death continues to build, and the story is raising outrage in France.

"This is 2001, and this is America. There is no reason that someone should be beaten in the jail," he said.

The family made their claim Le Menn was beaten after getting a copy of the jail surveillance tape of the struggle. Metro officials use the same tape to say there is no evidence of a beating, only guards struggling to control an inmate.

The tape has been broadcasted on the news in France. As the public outcry in France grew, several high-level French government officials met with U.S. officials in Paris.

French diplomats in Washington, D.C., have also registered their concern to the State Department and other federal officials, and the French Consulate in Los Angeles has sent letters to local and state officials.

Le Menn ended up in the jail Jan. 4 after being arrested by Clark County school district police at Marion Earl Elementary after he was accused of banging on a school bus demanding the children get off the bus.

In the days before his arrest Le Menn called police from a pay phone outside a drugstore claiming he was being followed.

Moreau said his cousin may have believed he was being followed, but none of those actions should have led to his death in the jail.

"If the thought he was (mentally ill) so why did they take him to jail and not to a hospital," Moreau said. "They are trying to say he was violent. He wasn't. He was the nicest man and not violent at all."

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