Rifle officer who shot fleeing suspect may be held liable for excessive force, judge says gazette.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gazette.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
For the Craig Press
The city of Craig in January settled a lawsuit alleging excessive force against two officers over a 2018 tasing incident, the second civil rights complaint of its type filed against police force members since July.
Croix Orona’s federal complaint didn’t attract the level of publicity generated by another lawsuit with video exhibits of officers tasing a man purportedly experiencing a mental health crisis at his residence on Feb. 18, 2020.
The civil lawsuit by Orona, however, cast police in a similar light as the three officers being sued by another local resident, Grayson Dennis: law enforcement allegedly escalating a matter by tasing and hurting an individual at his residence. For its part, the city maintained in court filings its officers acted in good faith during the Orona incident, and in the case of Dennis, the police deployed the tasers in reaction to his “acts and conduct,” according to court filings.
Three Craig police officers, through Attorneys Eric M. Ziporin and Betsy L. Stewart from SGR, LLC, asked a judge to throw out the civil suit from former Craig resident Grayson Dennis, who was tased five times in February by the officers, who were responding to a mental health crisis call.
The civil suit from Dennis was filed Oct. 15 by the law firm of Holland, Holland, Edwards & Grossman in federal court against Craig officers Grant Laehr, Joshua Lyons and Daron Hashir. The lawsuit alleges that the officers knew Dennis, 27, was having a mental health breakdown and could not fully understand why he was being escorted to the ambulance by police officers, according to the lawsuit. When Dennis later requested the opportunity to speak with his father and girlfriend, officers refused and continued to move Dennis towards the ambulance, causing him to become upset and worsening his mental health crisis, according to the lawsuit.