Hog-Tie Restraints and Positional Asphyxia = A Risk
Cruz v. City of Laramie, No. 99-8045, 99-8049, 99-8050, 239F.3d 1183 (10th Cir., 2001)
"Officers may not apply this technique when a person's diminished capacity is apparent. The diminished capacity might result from severe intoxication, the influence of controlled substances, a discernible mental condition or any other condition, apparent to the officers at the time which would make the application of a hog-tie restraint likely to result in any significant risk to the individual's health or well-being. A review of the known dangers of the hog-tie restraint supports this position."
A review of this case makes the use of the hog-tie, when diminished capacity is involved, a liability risk.
John W. McTigue,
Chief Deputy District Attorney
Retired
Contra Costa County, California
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Death by Asphyxia
Courts of Appeal: December 26, 2003
Nelson v. County of Los Angeles , 113 Cal.App4th 783 (2003)
The parents of an adult male who died of asphyxia while restrained by deputy sheriffs filed a wrongful death suit against the county. The adult male stood in the middle of a busy intersection and fired a loaded gun into the air and at passing motorists. The police responded by arresting the adult male and placed him in the back of the police car. The adult male started thrashing about, and the deputies pulled him out of the car, laid the still handcuffed adult male facedown on the round and executed a total appendage restraint procedure (TARP). By the time the deputies finished, the adult male was unconscious. The paramedics who came to the scene found he was no longer breathing and were unable to revive him. A jury found the county negligent, that the county's negligence was the cause of the deceased's death, and that 35 percent of the negligence was attributable to the deceased's conduct. The jury awarded $2 million to the parents.
The Court of Appeals remanded the matter to the trial court for a new trial on the damage issues, and affirmed the judgment in all other respects.
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Settlement is Reached in Hog-Tying Death
The Associated Press
OGDEN, UTAH. The Weber County Sheriff's Office and the family of Glen Lutz have settled for $240,000 in a lawsuit over Lutz's hog-tying death.
"It was a compromise on both sides." Said Loni DeLand, lawyer for the Lutz family. "We weren't ecstatic about the amount, nor was the defense."
The suit filed by Lutz's family sought $27 million in damages for the death they claimed was related to the October 16, 1999, traffic stop where three deputies hog-tied the combative Lutz.
Put on his stomach with his hands handcuffed behind his back and tethered to his shackled legs, Lutz briefly stopped breathing and lapsed into a coma. Deputies called paramedics after Lutz's breathing became labored but did not fully untie him. He died a month later without regaining consciousness.
A neighbor videotaped the incident. Deputies Steve Handy, Chris Bitten and Brian Jacobs can be heard on the tape yelling obscenities at Lutz.
From the $240,000, $152,086 will be divided among Lutz's widow, Laurie, and two sons, Jerad and John. The rest goes to the defense team's fees and costs.
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