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March 29, 2024

Jury: Death of man in Metro Police custody was excusable

Morantes

Mona Shield Payne/Special to the Sun

Metro Police Officer Ty Muncie demonstrates a spit mask used on Daniel Morantes III while testifying Friday during a coroner’s inquest at the Regional Justice Center. Morantes died following a physical altercation with Metro Police.

Updated Friday, Dec. 11, 2009 | 4:10 p.m.

Coroner's Inquest

Metro Police Officer Steve Morris Jr. demonstrates the grunting noises made by Daniel Morantes III while testifying Friday during the coroner's inquest at the Regional Justice Center. Morantes died following a physical altercation with Metro Police. Launch slideshow »

Two Die After Struggles with Officers

Metro Police Capt. Randy Montandon discusses two recent cases Thursday afternoon in which men died while in the custody of Metro officers.

The death of a man who died in Metro Police custody Nov. 1 was ruled excusable Friday by a Clark County coroner’s jury.

Jurors found the cause of Daniel Morantes III’s death to be cocaine and ethanol intoxication and ruled that Morantes, 47, was responsible for his own death.

Morantes was found to have an enlarged heart, cirrhosis of the liver and an enlarged spleen, among other health problems, testified Dr. Alane Olson, who performed Morantes' autopsy. She said the levels of alcohol and cocaine in Morantes’ system alone were enough to kill him. A physical altercation, either with police or the alleged fight they responded to, could have exacerbated those physical issues, she said.

"It is my opinion that, essentially, he died as a result of the effects of the cocaine and alcohol in his system," Olson said.

The jury of seven agreed with her conclusions.

The death had been ruled a homicide by the coroner’s office because Morantes had contact with another person – in his case, about half a dozen uniformed police officers. Ruling a death a homicide doesn’t mean there was a criminal act, Olson said.

A coroner’s inquest is used to determine facts surrounding deaths involving Metro officers. Jurors could have ruled the death justifiable, excusable or criminal.

Officers testified that they responded at 6:22 p.m. Nov. 1 to the 500 block of North 14th Street to a call reporting a fight between two men, one of whom was reported to have a knife, at an apartment complex.

Morantes was walking down a staircase when police arrived. He was directed to exit the building and Officer Shane Black escorted him toward a patrol car, where he was to be handcuffed and searched.

That’s when Morantes made a noise that sounded “almost like a war cry,” Officer Cory Franklin testified.

Black was standing behind Morantes about to handcuff and search him when Morantes started yelling. Black said he wrapped his arms around Morantes from behind and clasped his hands together, nearly encircling and trapping him, to keep him from swinging his arms.

The two then went down to the ground, with a struggle ensuing and Morantes ending up on his stomach. Morantes tried to curl his arms beneath himself to keep from being handcuffed, Black said. Throughout the ordeal, Morantes tried to spit at and bite the officers, who ultimately were successful in handcuffing him.

Morantes had a mask placed over his head to keep the officers from being bitten or spit on.

Officer Steve Morris Jr. said Morantes’ behavior was erratic throughout the incident. He said he was grunting, groaning and barking, “almost like a dog,” and testified he believed Morantes was unstable.

Franklin said Morantes’ eyes were “heavily glazed” and his pupils were dilated.

“I knew he had to be medically evaluated because something was not right,” he said. He called for medical personnel to respond.

When paramedics responded, they enlisted the help of some of the officers to place Morantes on a gurney. It was then they realized he wasn’t breathing.

Resuscitation and other life-saving measures were attempted, but Morantes was pronounced dead at Sunrise Hospital.

Morris added that although officers would have been justified in striking or punching Morantes due to his combative nature, no one struck him with a fist, baton or any other object.

“We had no intent to injure him. We were just trying to get him into custody,” he said.

The complex where the struggle took place was a Christian outreach center that catered to men needing help to get back on their feet, said Kevin Rush, the minister in charge of the center. Several men lived in each apartment, but Morantes didn’t live at the center. He was visiting a resident in an apartment when the fight ensued and police were called, Rush said.

Rush, who arrived at the complex as the altercation was under way, said he never saw police officers do anything inappropriate.

“He was tussling and screaming at the officers,” he said. The officers were trying to calm him down, he said.

He added that under the rules of the center, Morantes wasn’t permitted to be in the apartment in the first place.

One witness to the incident, 14-year-old Rancho High School student Christina Wimberly, said she didn’t see officers Tase the man, punch him, hit him or kick him – but she did see the man “hitting them, kicking them and trying to get away from them.”

The officers didn’t do anything intended to hurt the man, she said.

Morantes died of an enlarged heart and had cocaine in his system, with a contributing factor being his contact with police, prosecutor Christopher Laurent said in introducing the case to the jurors.

Looking at his physical injuries, which included a variety of bruises and scrapes, Olson said, "Nothing the police did appeared to have been done with the intent to cause harm."

The case was one of two incidents within a four-day span where Metro officers had deadly struggles in making arrests.

The coroner’s office on Wednesday said it ruled the death of Dustin Boone, who died Nov. 4 after officers tried to subdue him with a neck restraint, a homicide. Boone died of cardiac pulmonary arrest, use of a neck restraint and other reasons related to dilated cardiomyopathy, the coroner’s office said.

An inquest into Boone’s death is set for Dec. 18.

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