Lawsuit Over Death Of Earl McNeil Alleges Excessive Force

Speaker 1: 00:00 The family of Earl Mcneil who stopped breathing while in police custody and died several days later after being taken off. Life support has filed a civil lawsuit. The suit alleges excessive force in constitutional violations while Mcneil was in the custody of national city police. Linsey Weenk Lee covers courts in public safety for the San Diego Union Tribune. She's been covering this development in joins us with details. Lindsay, welcome. Thank you so much for having me. So Lindsay, remind us what we know about how Earl McNeil died. Yeah, so we know a lot more than we knew when this first happened. So Earl Mcneil died June 11th and that was about two weeks after he got into an altercation with national city police officers in front of police headquarters. About five 30 in the morning. Over the course of the next several hours, MacNeal would be handcuffed, restrained, put into to spit socks and then eventually brought to the San Diego County jail where the individuals there refused to admit him because of his state. Speaker 1: 01:08 He was taken to a hospital. He fell unconscious and the ambulance and while they were able to get his heart beating again, he never regained consciousness and was later taken off life support. And he actually lost consciousness before even being taken to the hospital, correct? Correct. He was, yeah. He was being seen by paramedics at the time when he, when he passed out. So now, what are the claims being made by the family of Earl Mcneil and this lawsuit? Essentially, the family is claiming that a number of Earl McNeil's constitutional rights were violated. Um, most, uh, I think what is talked about in most detail in the lawsuit is excessive force and this failure to get Earl McNeil the medical care that he desperately needed during the incident. According to the suit. They say that there were plenty of signs throughout the interaction, which again was a lengthy interaction that indicated that Earl needed help right now. Speaker 1: 02:10 Um, he would shout help me. He told officers that they were killing him. He said that he couldn't breathe, he was sweating. He was, um, there was suspicions that he may be under the influence, which later was a corroborated by his autopsy. And those are interesting details that were put into the lawsuit because when officers are learning how to use the wrap, which is a very specific restraint, a mechanism that's supposed to keep people safe, part of that training is learning when you need to ask for medical assistance. So if you put somebody in a wrap and they start, start exhibiting certain signs, that is supposed to be a clue to officers that this person needs medical help. And according to the rap manual, Earl was exhibiting several of these signs during the course that they have the morning, including profuse sweating, exhibiting difficulty breathing, a high body temperature. Speaker 1: 03:08 He had a fever when he was checked out at the, at the jail. Um, and so the lawsuit states that there was plenty of evidence to suggest that Earl needed to be in a hospital hours before he was actually seen by any medical professional. And, and so you mentioned the, the use of the rap and what the manual says and how it should be used. Do you know you have any indication if officers were trained on how to use it or even paramedics? Well, that's interesting. I think that that's going to be something that comes out in discovery. It's certainly addressed in the lawsuit, uh, in, in the suit. Think one of the interesting things about this lawsuit is an addition to these constitutional violations. This lawsuit also suggests that there is a broader issue within the National City Police Department that actually led to these actions. The lawsuit states that these officers were poorly trained. Speaker 1: 04:03 But in addition to that, that the department didn't respond properly to instances when officers may have taken a somebody's constitutional rights or infringed upon somebody's constitutional rights, um, properly thus creating a culture that actually, um, you know, made these kinds of instances seem acceptable. Um, it's a, it's kind of a broader, it's a broader part of this lawsuit that we're really seeing for the first time. Is the family seeking any damages? Yes, the damages are on specified at this point. The claim was more than a million dollars. Um, but yes, it did. The damages will be determined to trial and the district attorney's office declined to charge any of the deputies or officers in connection with Mcneil's death. Uh, how might that decision factor into this lawsuit? Well, I mean, I think that that is part of the reason why we're seeing this lawsuit. Uh, we may have seen it either way, but the fact that I'm in September when district attorney summer stuff and announced essentially that no national city officers or any sheriff's deputies, um, who were involved were, she essentially stated that, uh, that his death was not the direct, natural or probable consequence of any of their, of their actions. Speaker 1: 05:17 And I wonder if that determination had been different if we would see this, this lawsuit in the first place. But yeah, I do think that the, the scope of the lawsuit and all of the different things that it addresses, especially the history of the officers involved and just the general culture of the National City Police Department. Um, I think the family is looking for more information and um, they're on their own justice. All right. I, I've been speaking with Lindsay wink Lee with the San Diego Union Tribune. Lindsay, thank you so much. Thank you.