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Monday, Aug. 3, 2009 | 6:04 p.m.
Henderson Police Press Conference
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On Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008, Chief Richard Perkins of the Henderson police department, held a press conference to address the shooting of 42-year-old Deshira Selimaj by police officer Luke Morrison.
Sun Archives
Settlement talks are under way in a wrongful death and civil rights lawsuit over the 2008 shooting death of an ice cream truck driver by a Henderson police officer.
Federal court records in Las Vegas show attorneys for Zyber Selimaj, who is suing the city over the death of his wife, and lawyers for the city of Henderson informed the court July 23 that they are in the process of finalizing a settlement.
Because of the settlement talks, a hearing in the case set for July 27 was canceled and the attorneys were told to report to the court on the status of the settlement by Aug. 14.
Henderson City Attorney Elizabeth Macias Quillin on Monday said it was premature to discuss details about the possible settlement, but confirmed negotiations were under way.
"It's a work in progress," she said.
Attorneys for Zyber Selimaj could not immediately be reached for comment.
Attorneys have not disclosed the potential settlement terms, including whether there would be a payment to Zyber Selimaj, his children and their attorneys.
Besides its general budget resources, the city is self-insured against such claims.
It also purchases insurance for claims exceeding the coverage of its self-insurance program.
Zyber Selimaj and his children sued the city and several police officers in April 2008 over the death two months earlier of Deshira Selimaj, who was shot during an incident after a traffic stop.
A Clark County Coroner's jury found the shooting by officer Luke Morrison to be justified after Morrison and other officers testified Deshira Selimaj threatened them with a knife.
The complaint alleges the civil rights of the family were violated when Deshira Selimaj was killed after she came to the aid of her husband, also an ice cream truck driver who had been stopped for a traffic violation.
The complaint alleges negligence, inadequate training and supervision of police officers, that Zyber Selimaj was assaulted and falsely imprisoned by police and that after the shooting the police falsified their accounts of what happened to cover up information unfavorable to them.
The suit seeks at least $25 million in damages for its federal claims and additional damages for state wrongful death claims.
"The decedent posed no threat to any officer or anyone else at the time she was shot by police officers. At the time the defendant officers shot Deshira, they had no reasonable basis to believe that there existed any conditions necessary for utilizing deadly force against the decedent," the lawsuit claims.
But in their response, atttorneys for the city and the officers denied wrongdoing on the part of the defendants.
"These answering defendants were confronted with a sudden emergency and imminent peril at the time of and immediately prior to the incident ... and did, or attempted to do, what a reasonably careful person would have done under the same or similar circumstances," Henderson's attorneys wrote in a March court filing.
"Any force utilized by the officers ... was a result of the intentional and voluntary acts of the decedent's intention(al) and voluntary resistance to lawful commands of officers -- creating a situation of danger for the officers wherein the officers felt their lives and/or safety were in danger and requiring the use of force on behalf of the officers," the filing said.
Danger? What danger? A 5' 105 Lb lady with a knife against a 6' officer with a gun, a vest, and supposed training in defensive maneuvers? Jesus God, take Luke Morrison and his enabler, Dickl*ss Perkins, and send them to the military/redneck ultimate hell. I don't know how Luke returns to his home each night, and then sleeps like a baby.
May they both rot away with the maggots munching.
The Selimaj family doesn't deserve one red cent from the city of Henderson. They brought all this on themselves! If he had just signed the ticket and not called his mentally unstable wife to the scene, there would have been no need for a routine traffic stop to escalate to the point it did.
they could have used a taser or they could have even shot her in the leg to bring her down.
this is was just another disgusting display of our redneck, ufc - watching, high school diploma cops.
these clowns are unprofessional,overpaid,untrained,cowardly and as the guv of California would say these guys are Girlie Men,yes Pansies, Little Girls one and all.these so called trained professioals could not have restrained her in some way,rubber bullets,stun gun or just have some real Guts and tackle her.what a group of Pansies they have on the force in henderson,yea girlie men.do they lift weights to train with or tampons.i hope the family gets millions,tens of millions and that these girlie cops get canned for being afraid of a woman w/or w/o a knife,freakin wussies one and all.
Agree with Stevem. Its hard for me to believe that the police didn't have other alternatives to end the situation. Keep in mind this was a situation that escalated gradually. This was not someone who jumped out of a vehicle and charged at the police at first chance.
When I moved to Henderson four years ago, I was told by several neighbors that the cops here are thugs. Now I see why.
Knife or no knife, the cops should be able to take down a petite middle-age woman without having to kill her. It doesn't excuse her alleged behavior, but it also doesn't absolve the Henderson PD of their responsibility either.
Sorry, you don't wave knives and yell at people ... especially not police officers. While I think this is tragic, I stand behind the officers (who have a very difficult job and provide an essential service to our community).
It makes me angry that our legal system neccessitates the need for the City of Henderson to even consider a settlement.
where is the president chiming in about the police acting stupidly on this one?
It sounds as though some of you are not aware of two facts. First, she was tasered. Second, the bullet entered her arm.
Same old story. The civil courts must rectify the joke of an inquist by Clark County. Perhaps if the insurance rates skyrocket the Henderson Police and the Coroner will finally change their policies.
jaesun,
Why would you expect Obama to weigh in on this? The Selimaj's are ALBANIAN, not black you silly goose!
Henderson cops are total thugs. I speak from first hand experience. Shooting this woman was wrong, wrong, wrong.
If some b*tch came after me with a knife, I would shoot here several times with my pocket Glock 26. You can't be too careful.
LV4LIFE,
While I don't disagree there are bad cops out there, I find a blanket statement like yours to be completely stupid. There are many more good officers than bad. I also have first hand experience.
For some reason, people like you cannot seem to comprehend that when you are approached by a police officer, you must comply! If you do,
nobody will get hurt.
Only an effing moron needs to worry about getting hurt by the police.
Yes, I'm saying Mrs. Selimaj acted stupidly, and her little husband too.
All that man had to do was sign the citation, like he had done so many times before. He had many tickets and knew the drill. Sign the flipping ticket and go home! Instead he called his wife and kids down. For what? He knew English!
A Few Things:
Don't bring a knife to a gun fight
Listen to what the police tell you to do...There's a reason their called "police".
I just don't understand why they didn't shoot her in the leg or somewhere non fatal.
Mrsam,
The bullet entered her arm. They also tased her.
first,gates and obama are friends, try to stay on subject
next, if cities do not want to keep paying millions of dollars maybe their recruits should be required to take criminal justice and law. Maybe they should require people with guns to have more than a high school diploma but if not I guess cities will continue to pay millions and fools will argue the police are always justified when they kill.
you keep saying "the bullet entered her arm".
well, obviously, that didn't work out too well, did it?
so shut up and stop using that as an excuse.
the COULD have and SHOULD have shot this lady in the leg. it would have been a non-lethal wound, she would have been on the ground, most likely have dropped the knife, and they could have cuffed her.
period.
steve,
Shut up? How old are you? They shot her in the arm, not the head. I'm not using it as an excuse, I don't feel an excuse needs to be made.
So they shot her in the arm, and she was killed? Gee, all those hours spent by Luke Morrison at the gun range sure paid off, didn't they? Get out the whitewash that the DA used in the inquest, and spread it over that foolish mural in downtown Henderson. And use the remainder to paint the brown off of brave officer Morrison's underpants. The Keystone Killers live.
This guy should have to pay Henderson for a nuisance lawsuit.
You mess with the bull, you get the horns.
This is an obvious tragedy, but it is also a chance for you behavioral retards to learn a lesson about obeying simple police commands.
no, moron.
see...if a bullet enters your arm...that means they were firing at your torso.
just a few inches either way means a bullet to the lung, heart, etc.
that's a potentially lethal wound...which is WHY this lady died.
they could have, and SHOULD have shot her in the leg. there are no vital organs in the leg.
What do you think, this is the movies and the cops are Clint Eastwood shooting objects the seize of dimes at fifty yards while lighting a cigar. Never seen a shooting range with leg targets hanging up to shoot. Cops are trained to shoot at the torso, and if you pull the trigger, you shoot to kill. Ask someone whose been in Viet Nam or Irac under fire and how calm they were when they shoot someone. What would the comments be if the cop shot at the leg and missed and hit some bystander and killed them. Unless she was going to use the knife to cut a ice cream cake to give to the police, her intent was to kill or seriously harm the police. How many little kids bought ice cream from this crazy woman who carried a knife.
You must comply with the police. If you do, you will not get hurt. If you don't, you might get shot.
There are extremely few rare exceptions.
For those who question why she wasn't shot in the leg or someplace that wouldn't kill her, you have to much time on your hands and watch to much television.
If she had been shot in the leg there is still no gurantee she would not have died. If the femoral artery was struck it is a matter of minutes before someone bleeds out and dies.
Yes, this is a tragic event; however, she made the choice to arm herself with a knife. She made the choice to hold the knife to her son's throat. She made the choice to not comply with officers commands. She made the choice to place other lives in danger. She alone escalated this to the next level.
Her family doesn't deserve one penny. The only reason they will collect is it's cheaper to settle than to fight and the ambulance chasing attorney's know this.
Someone with a knife is scarier than one with a gun. A knife can go through a vest. The defensive tactic for someone with a knife is shooting them. Thats what's taught.
Quit watching movies and think that they are like real life. You trolls think you know everything.
stevem wrote: "...they could have, and SHOULD have shot her in the leg. there are no vital organs in the leg."
While technically true, the femoral artery runs down the thigh and a person who is shot in the femoral artery could bleed to death very quickly.
The issue here is not where the cops should shoot, but that citizens should act in a lawful and reasonable manner. I'm a longtime resident of Las Vegas, I act in a lawful and reasonable way -- especially around cops -- and I have never been shot by a cop or even had a gun trained on me. Then again, I don't go around waving knives in front of armed cops.
Illegal aliens collecting money from the City for being criminals is way out of line, it borders on the bizarre.
I don't agree with settling. I think it sets a terrible precedent, and absolutely should not happen.
Why does every thread on this website have someone chiming in about illegals? Global warming? Blame illegals... Iran nukes? Illegals... John Ensign's affair? Illegals.
AfVet, since this family wasn't illegal, I don't see the relevance of your post. Unless you're one of those simpleton idiots who assumes that everyone with a funny sounding last name MUST be illegal.
captjack,
You are right they weren't illegals, but afveteran is onto something.
You would think Mr. Selimaj would be grateful for his "American Freedom" after spending years in an Albanian prison, but he's already been charged twice with battery of a minor on 2 separate occasions for assaulting his ice-cream truck customers, and he has established a pattern of ignoring stop signs, school zones, and other traffic laws while operating an ice cream truck that attracts children by design. Clearly the anger management classes he was court ordered to take didn't help. I think the police showed a great deal of patience with this man by allowing him to wait for his wife rather than hauling him to jail. Can you imagine their surprise when she showed up and proved to be crazier and angrier, and armed with a knife? These people are nuts, these are not the kind of people we should swing open the borders for.
He thinks he can assault the children in this country that provide him a nice living, ignore laws, refuse to sign tickets?
These people have spit on our country, our laws, and our police men and woman. How dare anyone suggest that our police officers should risk even getting a papercut to keep these crazy, thankless, scumbags from getting themselves shot. I'm appalled that he is still allowed to operate an ice-cream truck! Now we're going to give him money too?
Ha Ha,,,,Henderson cops are a joke. One and all. Traffic stops that turn working people into knife wielding criminals who get shot by 20 something cowboy local hillbillies....cops work for the public...that means they owe us, we dont owe them. If you dont wanna get shot go pump gas...its about all you have the IQ for. Every cop I hear about who comes up against a "real" gun wielding criminal gets hurt....who got hurt here? Henderson is a joke...LVMPD will even say that off the record....To everyone who believes these jackoffs are justified, wait till you get pulled over for a bad taillight or something...and disagree with 'em cos your having a bad day....
I've been pulled over more times than I care to remember. I live in Henderson. I have never had a bad experience with Henderson police other than that they are annoying.
Once I was I was parked behind Vons waiting for my daughter to get off work. I was in the back because it was shady. I was reading a book. Before I knew it, 2 police approach my window. I see that they have parked 2 police SUV's completely blocking my car. They wanted to know why I was there. I have nothing to hide, so I sat there, continued reading my book while they checked out my id, registration, and insurance.
They came back, gave me my stuff, said thank you and left. So while it annoyed me, I realize it probably looked weird that one car was sitting behind the store.
eff the Henderson PD. What do they really do? How many people live in Henderson and have been pulled over for no reason? I'm all for hiring police with at least an Associates Degree. The Henderson PIGS are morons. Go stop a violent crime, and quit typing on your computer WHILE you're driving you jerk offs.
This Ice Cream Lady was an idiot, but you'd think several cops would be able to handle this situation without killing people.
I've been pulled over a lot, but never for no reason.
Not quite as bad as the San Jose, Ca, woman who was shot and killed by the because she threatened them with a potato peeler.
I still believe the people involved in this lawsuit are illegal aliens. The local papers and TV news channels are prone to omitting facts pertaining to illegal immigration status. This country will have to address this issue sometime soon before the illegal population gets any worse, if that's possible. Unfortunately for us, we've quit getting the good immigrants. Now all we get are the 3rd world scumbags whose countries don't want them any more than we do.
haha!
the fact that you spelled "iraq" as "irac" in your argument against me just shows you are a retard.
moron.