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Aug 19, 2008 10:40 pm US/Central
Judge Allows Lawsuit Against APD Cops To Continue
Reporting
Jack Fink
ALLEN (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
Since August 2005, relatives of a man who died while police tried to arrest him have demanded justice. They claim three Allen officers used excessive and deadly force as they tried to restrain Edgar Vera.
Three years later, a federal judge refused to throw out the civil lawsuit against the three Allen police officers. The magistrate judge decision is due to conflicting evidence about what really happened Vera died.
In the ruling, the magistrate said there were many questions left unanswered, including "...whether, how, and for how long Vera resisted arrest... how Vera was restrained, whether such restraint was excessive or objectively unreasonable."
An autopsy found Vera died of positional asphyxia after the three officers pinned him to the ground with their bodies. Michael Hindman, the Vera family's attorney, says the three first responding officers on scene contradict testimony from two officers who showed up later.
"These officers say they did not see Mr. Vera talk, hear him talk, say anything or see him move," said Hindman. "But the three defendants contend Mr. Vera fought them right up to the very end."
He adds, the three officers' claimed they gave Vera CPR as soon as they turned him over. However, that contradicts findings from a pathologist the family hired.
"The evidence we developed shows that in order for him to have suffered the type of brain injury he suffered, he had to have been without oxygen for at least five minutes before CPR started," said Hindman.
The Allen Police Officers' attorney declined comment.
A district judge will now make a final ruling on whether the case should be thrown out.
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