Jury deliberates case of man who died in police custody

By Jeff Pope

Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2009 | 7:44 p.m.

Jurors began deliberating today in a civil suit brought by the family of a man who died in custody of North Las Vegas police in 2002.

The family of Roberto Arce filed a lawsuit in April 2004 alleging police officers violated his Fourth Amendment rights against illegal seizure and that they used excessive force that led to his death from cardiac arrest.

The suit names as defendants the North Las Vegas Police Department, the city, Chief Joseph Forti and seven officers who responded to a domestic violence call at the Arces’ home on April 8, 2002. The officers named are Shayne Skipworth, Mark Hoyt, Leonard Cardinale, Brian Sachs, Mark Suranowitz, Michael Carmody and Michael Blackwell.

Officers testified they wrestled with Arce and were forced to cuff his hands and hold him face down to keep him from attacking them. Arce said he couldn’t breathe but when police eased off him, he would trash around, officers said.

While in custody, Arce stopped breathing and doctors at MountainView Hospital pronounced him brain dead shortly after he arrived.

Arce, 31, died three days later when he was removed from life support.

The family claimed the officers “hog-tied” Arce against department policy and is seeking $10 million in damages.

Cal Potter, the family’s attorney, said the officers were not trained to recognize that Arce needed medical attention and that the prone position he was in contributed to his death.

“These officers went there to help the individual. They were not properly trained. They engaged in excessive force,” Potter said. “It doesn’t take ... a rocket scientist to know that you can’t breathe when you’re held face down by an individual. It will result in suffocation.”

Defense attorneys said the officers needed to protect themselves from a violent, uncooperative cocaine addict. Arce’s hands and feet were bound but not together in hog-tie fashion, defense attorney Robert Freeman said.

Officers said they first put a towel over Arce’s face and then a beekeeper’s mask to prevent him from biting and spitting.

Police had responded to at least six domestic violence calls between June 2000 and April 2002 at the Arces’ home. On one call, Roberto Arce barricaded himself in the home until SWAT officers drew him out.

“He knew he got violent when he got high; certainly he had the records to know that. But he did it anyway,” Freeman said.

Several of those incidents resulted in Arce being hospitalized for his addiction. He was in a court-ordered drug program when he died, Potter said.