French man’s family filing lawsuits against sheriff, jail guards

Ken Ritter

Monday, March 5, 2001 | 3:47 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - The family of a French citizen who asphyxiated Jan. 4 in the Clark County jail plans to file a wrongful death lawsuit Tuesday against jail guards and the county sheriff.

"We are filing a federal civil rights lawsuit to obtain justice on behalf of the family of Philippe Le Menn," said James DeSimone, a Los Angeles lawyer who said the case will be filed at U.S. District Court in Las Vegas.

DeSimone said Monday that Paul Hoffman, lead lawyer in the case, will join members of Le Menn's family and officials at Amnesty International on Tuesday morning in Paris to announce the lawsuit.

Family members accuse jail guards of killing Le Menn. His five-minute struggle with guards in a Las Vegas jail cell was captured on a jail surveillance camera and later broadcast in the U.S. and France.

Le Menn, a French citizen who split time between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, had been arrested Jan. 4 on misdemeanor charges of causing a disturbance at a school.

The family is "absolutely not" satisfied with police reports, a coroner's autopsy and an inquest jury ruling that the 33-year-old restaurant manager asphyxiated possibly from pressure against his neck but found jail guards not criminally responsible, DeSimone said.

"The goal is to hold the officers that are responsible for his death accountable," he said. "This not been done to date."

Clark County Sheriff Jerry Keller, who oversees jail operations, the corrections officers who had contact with Le Menn, and jail medical officials will be named in the lawsuit, DeSimone said.

Deputy Las Vegas police Chief Ray Flynn, who has handled department comment on the case, could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.

The French government has cited international human rights conventions in complaining that jail authorities should have notified it that Le Menn was in custody.

The case also is being investigated by the FBI, which is expected to determine if federal criminal charges should be filed, and by the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, which has been investigating overcrowding and other conditions at the jail since 1997.