Jury rules in favor of NLV officers in police custody death

By Jeff Pope

Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009 | 4:08 p.m.

A federal court jury today found that North Las Vegas police officers did not use excessive force in subduing a man who would later die and issued a verdict that awards no damages to the family of Roberto Arce.

The eight-member jury deliberated for almost six hours in U.S. District Court before issuing its verdict in favor of the officers. Jurors declined to comment.

The Arce family's attorney, Cal Potter, said he plans to appeal the verdict partly on the grounds that Judge James Mahan allowed the results of the coroner's inquest to be admitted as evidence.

"We think it tainted these proceedings," he said. "Even from the beginning we felt like it was an uphill battle."

The inquest jury found the officers' actions excusable and Arce's behavior led to his own death.

Arce's family filed a lawsuit in April 2004 alleging police officers violated the man's Fourth Amendment rights against illegal seizure and that they used excessive force that led to his death from cardiac arrest.

The family sought $10 million in damages.

Arce died at MountainView Hospital on April 11, 2002. The coroner determined the primary cause was a lack of oxygen to the brain caused by "restraint asphyxia."

The suit named as defendants the North Las Vegas Police Department, the city, Chief Joseph Forti and seven officers.

Attorneys for the defendants directed questions to North Las Vegas City Attorney Carie Torrence.

"We were thankful for the verdict and believe all along that the officers' actions that night were appropriate," Torrence said.

The officers were responding to a domestic violence call on April 8, 2002, at the Arces' home in North Las Vegas. Roberto Arce's wife and then-10-year-old stepdaughter placed the emergency call, telling the operator that he was acting wild and that they had locked him in the garage and out of the house.

Joana Arce, his wife, would tell detectives later that Roberto had been using cocaine that night and had an addition to the drug.

Officers testified that Arce came at them and they wrestled him to the ground. One officer said Arce bit him.

The officers cuffed his hands behind his back and later paramedics would bind his feet with gauze at the officers' request.

Potter argued throughout the trial that police had Arce hogtied and said they put pressure on his back to keep him from moving. Those actions caused Arce to stop breathing, Potter said.

Arce was suffering from "excited delirium" because of the cocaine and he needed medical attention, which the officers failed to recognize, Potter said.

Officers denied they ever tied Arce's hands and feet together in a hogtie fashion, which is against department policy.

The officers testified that whenever they would ease off of Arce, he would begin thrashing about and needed to be held on the ground.

An internal investigation found that the officers used acceptable procedures that night, department spokesman Sgt. Tim Bedwell said.

"I think the city and the organization realize this was really a tragic loss for the family," he said. "Our officers did everything they could to protect the family that night and that's what they did to the best of their ability."