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Published Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009 | 1:58 p.m.
Updated Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009 | 6:08 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.
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City of Henderson officials said Thursday that Officer Luke Morrison, the officer involved in the 2008 shooting death of a woman during an incident after a traffic stop, is on paid administrative leave for a separate matter.
The revelation came a day before a U.S. District Court judge is expected to approve a $700,000 settlement between the city and the woman’s family. Fred Horvath, acting human resources director for Henderson, said Morrison has been on paid administrative leave for three weeks, pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation. He said a decision regarding Morrison’s status with the city is expected next week, but said he could not discuss any specifics of the investigation.
He said there is no tie between the current investigation and the 2008 incident.
“It had absolutely nothing to do with the prior shooting,” Horvath said.
A Clark County coroner’s jury found the shooting to be justified after Morrison and other officers testified Deshira Selimaj threatened them with a knife. Morrison returned to duty with the department following the inquest’s outcome.
Zyber Selimaj, Deshira Selimaj’s husband, filed the wrongful death suit after the inquest. A call to his attorney, Michael Cristalli, was not immediately returned.
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.
Henderson spokeswoman Kathleen Richards said the city stands by the outcome of the inquest, but city officials felt it would be best to settle the civil case.
“By settling, we are not indicating that there is any blame,” Richards said. “… Given the financial considerations of what it would take to litigate this case, as well as emotional toll, it was in the city’s best interests to settle.”
The complaint alleges negligence, inadequate training and supervision of police officers, that husband 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 sought at least $25 million in damages for its federal claims and additional damages for state wrongful death claims.
Richards said the $700,000 would come from the city's self-insurance liability fund, which is the fund the city uses to pay its liability insurance rates and liability claims that are not covered by insurance.
A portion of the money will be set aside in trust for the Selimajs’ two children, Richards said.
Documents from the Clark County Recorder's Office indicate the Las Vegas home Morrison owns with his wife is in foreclosure.
Sun reporters Abigail Goldman and Alex Richards contributed to this report.
LasVegas2009..... I wonder if you will ever need assistance from HPD. If so, I hope "the devil at work" is slow to respond!
LasVegas2009 - I am in no way "pro'cop" but how do you equate settling a wrongful death lawsuit for $700K into something that a public service employee did was acceptable....especially when it involves pre-mediation of killing another human being.....
in no way will I ever understand how a police officer can use lethal force on an unarmed person
sorry...I meant noidex, not lasvegas2009.
LSinLV,
Let me help you understand....from the article...
"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."
...Now, someone help me, if the shooting was justified, then why am I, and all the other tax payers in Henderson, paying $700K to this family?
I am sorry for the death of this woman who was a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend to probably many.
But, I have to say this....the police officers, men, women and K-9's put their lives on the line every day they walk out of their homes to go to work. They do for everyone in the city be it North Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City or Clark County. They do for those who love them, hate them and are indifferent towards them.
Say what you will because you have the right as an American, but as for me, I will support all the men, women and K-9's who go out every day to be there just in case I need them one day.
P.S. I have many friends who serve or who have served as police officers or highway patrol. And them and those who still serve, I salute you and say, "Keep up the great work."
enteaser....you don't have to help me understand. I am intelligent and articulate.
angry/mad women in her late 50's, weighing about 100 lbs held a knife and yelled and screamed at an officer (not in English). Officer, who is much larger physically, and TRAINED in the use of both lethal and non-lethal force chose to use lethal force PRIOR to using non-lethal force. woman died.
witnesses (multiple) stated the now deceased woman did NOT even charge the officer, other than flailing the knife in his direction. Granted her action were NOT proper, but they were in now way acceptable.
the woman did NOT deserve to die due to the officers inability to correctly access the situation.
LSinLV-
"In no way will I ever understand how a police officer can use lethal force on an unarmed person."
The lady had a KNIFE to the throat of her own child. I think the child that almost had his head cut off by his crazy mother would agree the shooting was justified.
This is a terrible message to the masses. Get pulled over, go crazy with a knife, get shot to death by cops only doing their job, and ur family will be rewarded with lots of money. WTF!
Good lord this is sad. Something has to be done about the police. I don't believe a word the officers say.
Jesus God. Luke Morrison is still out there, ready to do a "center mass" killing. These military barely high school graduates are out of control. Why do we elevate such dopes into a command position to where, when they kill an innocent civilian, they are protected by the whore DA, and his enabler, the useless former chief, Richie Perkins? This has got to stop, but it won't, because with our uneducated populace, we're one step away from 1950's Mississippi. Welcome to Redneck Heaven, everybody.
LSinLV,
If you are so intelligent and articulate, then why did you say this in your original post?
"in no way will I ever understand how a police officer can use lethal force on an unarmed person"
...apparently, instead of being intelligent and articulate, you are not even literate because the article says this, and I quote for the 2nd time...
"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."
If you people knew anything at all about self defense training, then you would know just how quickly an assailant with a knife can close the distance in a matter of seconds and stab someone!
Just so you now know, (this test has been done over and over) and an assailant can pull a knife and close a distance of 20 feet and stab someone in less than 7 seconds! Why is that amount of time significant you may ask? Guess what the average time is for making a decision to draw your weapon, actually drawing your weapon, aiming and firing your weapon under stress (for the average trained person) - yep, 9 seconds!
Which is just 2 seconds too slow!
Now, having said that, what is sad, Sad, SAD is that this lady just did NOT know how to behave - she was stupid, Stupid, STUPID and it cost her life! Has anyone even thought about the fact that the Police Officer is going to have to live with the fact that one day he had to kill a stupid woman? I'm sorry for the entire family - but, I'm also very sorry for the Police Officer!
People need to learn to respect the rule of law and all of our law enforcement personnel - they risk their lives (often against crazy idiots) to keep the rest of us safe - GET THAT IN YOUR HEADS!
Im so tired of hearing how dangerous cops jobs are.....
I bet more construction and mining personal die at a hire rate....
they claim they put their lives on the line everyday...
so does the electrician the miner and many other job occupations
im curious how large or small this women was..... was she really a TRUE threat.... i'd guess not..... I thought these cops were trained in self defense?
does that mean pull your gun and shoot when stressed or threatened?
If these cops are that stressed they need to find a new job!
Johnathan-what a stupid name. Just like your comment. You pee your pants over a 5' female-and then kill her? He's suspended because he's a complete idiot who now did some other dumb thing. I bet even the Unions are sick of him. I'm just worried about his wife and kids. Keep an eye on him, Union loafers....
Seven seconds to close twenty feet and use a knife while a handgun requires nine seconds to draw and use. Let's hope the criminals don't figure this out or they will all use knives and the police will not stand a chance.
Is it the job of ANY police officer in ANY state to kill someone with the first encounter? WHY couldn't this woman have been shot in the leg and drop her on the spot.I will never understand the force they use.Clearly every situation is different.If a 350lb Brut is charging with a knife...why must he be killed. They're always killed...drop them,shot his leg,shoot the arm holding the knife..To me none of this is justified...none of it makes any sense.
Okay all you cop-haters and blind faith-law-and-order types alike. Here are some things to consider.
I have many friends in law enforcement, one of whom has in fact used deadly force as both a United States soldier and a Nevada peace officer. He has been confronted with large men wielding knives in close spaces and 100 lb. waifs armed with Glock .40s. The only person he killed as a peace officer fired at him first. He has trained with many other police departments in other states, and he always tells me how it amazes him how loose Nevada agencies are with lethal force application. In much larger cities, a police officer would be extremely hard-pressed in explaining to a use-of-force panel how he had no other option but to shoot a 50-year-old woman wielding a kitchen knife. The diversity of eyewitness accounts would give the most rookie investigator pause in corroborating the officers' account.
His observation- TECHNICALLY the officer could EXPLAIN his actions within existing Nevada use-of-force perameters. And TECHNICALLY, a jury found O.J. Simpson NOT GUILTY of the murder of two people within the judge's instructions and California code. But the findings diverge from the truth and everyone knows this, including Officer Morrison and O.J. Simpson.
By the same turn, the emotional and irrational citizen who wants to argue his case before a person whose job is to observe, record, and report, not judge, places themselves at odds, instantly, with the justice system. The most common example of this is the person who wants to argue about the speeding ticket the officer has written them. It's not their job to determine your guilt or innocence. Granted, there is a time for civil disobedience- most particularly when an officer orders you to do something either illegal or dangerous to yourself or others, but to escalate a routine situation to the point of physical confrontation is 95% of the time the fault of the citizen.
All use-of-force policies in Nevada need to be scrutinized alongside those of neighboring states, and perhaps the D.A.'s offices should be a little less zealous in their "having the officers' backs". But the Las Vegas Metro area is full of rather uneducated denizens of a "thug culture" who believe ALL cops are bad, which is no different from someone who believes ALL minorities are criminals. They are merely two sides of the same hipocritical coin of the realm that is thugocracy.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: If this dope Selimaj (the husband) had just signed his ticket and not called his mentally unstable wife to the scene, two children would still have their mother and Henderson wouldn't be considering paying this jagov $700K.
He doesn't deserve a dime.
I also find it sad that all these pathetic dopes who don't have the stones to strap on a gun and a badge are sitting in judgment of those who do.
our_Linn, excellent post.
Babyboomer,
Time to wake up from wonderland! Have you watched a little too much TV lately? And by the way, criminals don't always die when they are shot, that's just the ones you hear about. Get a clue!
I'm amazed by all these police haters. I'm not involved in law enforcement but know it has to be a tough job without the luxury to arm chair quarterback a dangerous situation. I stay out of their hair and don't have any problems. Police haters, if your life is ever in danger be real to yourself and don't call the police.
Does this cop deserve a WEASEL AWARD? ----
Examples at " youtube.com/aclepd ", ----
or Weasel Award #107 - i r s agent - california -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Lbdmx-Eg...
Thank you, ----
Robert Evan Howard ----
aclepd.com ----
aclepd@aclepd.com
Okay somebody knows why he is suspended. anyone want to drop the dime
Should have gotten themselves a heavy hitter. One call, that's all.
A lesson for all of us...
Stay the f--k out of Henderson! They murder innocent people and also harass other law enforcement. I believe in was a DEA agent that was the victim of the Henderson gestapo.
I feel safer with the hookers, pimps and illegals in Sin City.
A settlement was reached because the cop was wrong. HPD knows it. If they didn't settle they would have paid out much more. I hate to do this because I hate when others bring up the subject of OJ. He was aquitted but found liable in the wrongfull death suit.
I find it hard to believe that it takes a trained officer 9 seconds to draw his weapon and pump two rounds into center mass at a distance of 20 feet and closing.. Maybe so, but seems mighty slow.
These illegal aliens don't deserve 70 dollars much less 700K+ dollars. HPD missed an opportunity to shove justice in the illegal perps face.
My handgun doesn't require 9 seconds to draw and use. Maybe 1 second, total. Of course Glocks have no safety and I carry with one in the pipe.
A portion is going to the children.
Yeah, after the lawyer gets his 33% and the ice cream bandit blows the rest on hookers and booze.
The kids are screwed either way.
Afveteran...and you're just the man for the job huh? You are one sick SOB. I sure hope you are not a cop.
getalife you need immediate mental health help. Your ludicrous rants are distubing. You have no basis for any of your hateful statements other than to demonstrate your stupidity.
LV4LIFE,
You said...
"A settlement was reached because the cop was wrong."
...but the article says...(and I quote for the third time, slow group this)...
"A Clark County coroner's jury found the shooting to be justified after Morrison and other officers testified Deshira Selimaj threatened them with a knife."
...so if the cop was wrong, as you say, then why would the CC coroner's jury find the shooting to be justified? I'm not holding my breath waiting for an answer to this question as I asked yesterday...
"if the shooting was justified, then why am I, and all the other tax payers in Henderson, paying $700K to this family?"
...Let me answer my own ?; LV4LIFE was on the right track by mentioning OJ but for the wrong reason. Just like OJ was obviously guilty, and the predominantly black jury bullied the 2 white jurors to go along with the sham non guilty verdict, in this case with 2 young children, any jury is going to try to find some reason, even when, (like in this case), no legitimate reason exists, to give the family some of the taxpayers money. So the reason Henderson settled the case is because it would cost them more to try to defend it, even though the case is eminently defendable.
How come nobody brings up the fact that there was more then just one officer there, It's not like it was just this woman and the single officer and his only option was to shoot her. What were the other officers doing? Doesn't HPD carry taser guns? If this woman actually did have a knife to her child's throat isn't that a hostage situation? Do they always just shoot people in hostage situations? Put yourself in Mr. Selimaj position, if this had happend to you what would you do? would you just accept the fact that your spouse was shot and killed by a police officer and leave it at that? This isn't about being a cop hater or whatever you want to call it, this has to do with a police officer making the wrong decision. This man had other alternatives he could have used, he had other police officers there as back up, I'm willing to bet that the officer had his gun drawn long before this woman waived her knife in his direction so the 7 seconds really doesn't apply here. It's no secret that cops will do whatever they have to do to protect one of their own. My best friend is a cop and I've heard about all the dirt that goes on in law enforcement, I'm not saying all cops are corrupt or not so trustworthy as their position should have them be but there are alot of cops that may have been decent before they became a cop but all that power went to their head and now they really need to be re-evaluted to see if they still meet the requirements to be in law enforcement. The bottom line is, you can say Mr. Selimaj shouldn't have called his wife, and the woman shouldn't have been waiving a knife around like a mad woman and the police officer shouldn't have shot and killed her. This lawsuit is being settled because the city, HPD, the DA all know the officer was at fault for using lethal force and there is no way in hell that they would win in a jury trial.
enteser, I am not here to change minds. I just put my opinion in just like everyone else here. You were not on on the jury so your assertion that blacks bullied whites has no basis in fact. I have never believed in the coroners findings, they always seem to favor the cops even when any intelligent thinking person with the facts would come to a different conclusion. As to why you are paying for it....Just think of it as making up for all the justified killings that were really HPD's screw ups that they got away with.
Many comments have been made about this case and this "thug officer" and what he allegedly did. Comments have been made about the cop being dishonest and using deadly force without considering other options. Obviously you did not read the coroner's inquest report, other attempts were made.
Unfortunately I believe we let the media manipulate us. This report states, "The complaint alleges negligence, inadequate training and supervision of police officers, that husband 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." These are the allegations of the attorney, no proof of these allegations has been shown and if he had a good case why would they consider settling a $25 million dollar case for 700 thousand? Not hardly.
Now some of you use the fact that the officer is being investigated for a separate issue that he guilty of a bad shooting, even comparing him to OJ. This is a person who has spent his entire adult life serving his country in one capacity or another. It is possible that this young man is under considerable stress from everything that has happened. Not only was he placed in a situation where he was forced to shoot another human being, but he has been exposed to the media and others that he murdered her, shouldn't have shot her, and is a thug. The fact that a woman would put a knife to her own child is overlooked and we are made to believe that she is the victim.
After reading these posts I wonder why would anyone want to become an officer? You are immediately referred to as a thug with a gun and considered a liar. Luckily for all of us there are still people willing to carry the burden to protect us while being hated by us.
Maybe now he can buy a new suit..who wears bright blue (in lieu of black) to a funeral.
And waahh..if he didn't break the law and deserve to get pulled over, and she stayed her crazy a** home and not threatened her own child IN FRONT OF POLICE this would have never happened.
And for those of you who don't understand settlements..you don't always have to be guilty, but attorneys know it can be more costly to go to trial, so you settle..on the flip side, when you are the idiotic ice cream man's attorney, you take the $700,000 because you know your case is crappy enough that no one in their right mind would award you $25 million.
First of all, they did try tasering her, it didn't work.
Second, she was not shot "center mass", the bullet entered through her arm.
Also, these people were nuts!
Mr. Selimaj spent years in an Albanian prison. Since he's been here, he's 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?
Our police officers shouldn't even risk a papercut on people like this.
LV4LIFE,
Good thing because with your logic, or lack thereof, it would be a hard sell. I asked you a question; you declined to answer it directly but then admitted that you were just stating your opinion(which is another way of answering my question). If you had said that in the first place, I wouldn't have even replied to you. By the way, for the obtuse amongst us, and LV4LIFE, you know who you are, the statement, "A settlement was reached because the cop was wrong.", is a statement of fact, not a statement of opinion!
Funny how when someone doesn't agree with what another person posts they have to attack that person and try to force their opinion as the right answer. Alot of you need to grow up and understand that everybody has a different view and has that right to speak it. It wouldn't matter if half the city stood there and watched what happend, everybody would have a different opinion on who was right and who was wrong and what should have happend. Personal attacks against what someone posts about a news story are the most ridiculous thing I've seen in my life. Get real people, quit trying to force your opinion on everyone. enteaser that means you
kgv2009, jeez, you have NO class, man.
I don't care how you opine on the case in question, but your personal comments are indicative of a deep-seated psychological problem.
Please, seek help post-haste. That was NASTY.
@henderson-
Gosh, you are sooo right!!! Those 5th and 6th Amendments to the Constitution are so darn pesky!
I think we should take it a step further- let's make it okay for ignorant people to be killed by the police with little scrutiny! Should tidy the population up nicely... thin the herd as it were... quite lovely.
Makes me jones for a nice cup of tea while I listen to our leaders speak on the radio...
Everybody has a different opinion just like what happen that day people see or hear what they want to so I hope we can move.
I am a firm believer in the Constitution.
Nowhere does it say the police must take a knife in the chest if it's being wielded by a tiny woman instead of firing their weapons.
These people are unstable, crazy, and why did we let them in the country in the first place?
When did we start swinging open the border for Albanian felons?
And then somehow, the Albanian ex-prisoner was given the okay to drive ice cream trucks so he can both attract and assault American children.
Isn't that special?
The lady is dead and that is a tragedy, no dispute. The officer may have fired a little too quickly, that is up for debate. But what we'll never know is what may have happened if he had not fired. Would she have magically calmed down and suddenly become rational? Would her obviously also unstable husband (come on, who calls their wife to the scene because you get a stupid traffic ticket?) have remained under control? Would the whole situation have had a happy ending with a beer at the White House? In all likelihood the answer is no. The husband was previously cited by HPD for traffic violations so they were aware of his mental issues, that is why they allowed him to call his wife hoping that would calm things down. Who knew she was a bigger mental case? While we will never know what could have happened, maybe it could have been worse. Maybe she could have successfully attacked an officer or her children. She was crazy enough to hold a knife to her own child, she was certainly crazy enough to be a danger to anyone else. THAT is what an officer has to consider in those few seconds when deciding whether to fire on an ARMED person. You have seconds to act, and a lifetime to be second guessed.
"...Now, someone help me, if the shooting was justified, then why am I, and all the other tax payers in Henderson, paying $700K to this family?"
Because that is the why it has always worked.
"The husband was previously cited by HPD for traffic violations so they were aware of his mental issues, that is why they allowed him to call his wife hoping that would calm things down. Who knew she was a bigger mental case?"
Wait, how does breaking traffic laws relate to one's mental state. And I didn't know that mental illness was contagious.
"Maybe she could have successfully attacked an officer or her children."
Maybe the previous sentence was whole cloth speculation.
"THAT is what an officer has to consider in those few seconds when deciding whether to fire on an ARMED person. You have seconds to act, and a lifetime to be second guessed."
The person who is shot is most certainly dead and won't have any lifetime to guess anything.
Given this particular officer's current predicament, he continues to guess poorly which, once again, calls into question his past and present decision making ability.
That doesn't sound like the kind of person who should be making any life or death decisions.
I firmly believe that if I raise a knife anywhere near a police officer, I will be shot.
Maybe we should just do some public service announcements for idiots that don't know that threatening people with knives might get you killed.