Man’s death after struggle with Metro Police ruled excusable

By Tiffany Gibson

Friday, Dec. 18, 2009 | 8:37 p.m.

A Clark County coroner’s jury ruled Friday that the death of a man who stopped breathing after Metro Police tried to subdue him with a neck restraint was excusable.

Jurors at the inquest determined Dustin James Boone died of cardiac pulmonary arrest due to the use of a neck restraint and agreed that medical issues played a crucial role in his death.

Boone’s father, James Boone, complained that the inquest was one-sided and didn’t allow the family to present witnesses. “A lot was turned around,” he said.

Medical Examiner Larry Simms testified that Dustin Boone, 29, had an enlarged heart and abnormalities in his liver. He said Boone’s spleen was also enlarged.

Boone had cuts, bruises and two hemorrhages in his throat, but there was no damage to the trachea, Simms said.

Earlier this month, Simms ruled Boone’s death a homicide. He testified Friday that a homicide doesn’t have to be caused with criminal intent.

Jurors could have ruled the death justifiable, excusable or criminal. Deputy District Attorney Christopher Laurent said justifiable homicide is the result of self-defense and excusable homicide results from an accident.

Crisis intervention team officers testified that they responded about 7:35 p.m. Nov. 4 to Dustin Boone’s house in the 7700 block of Scoby Court after receiving a call from a mental health case worker who said he was acting erratically.

Melanie Torres, an Easter Seals case worker at the time, said Dustin Boone suffered from mental illnesses, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

She said she had been working with him to ensure he was taking his prescribed medications.

She said she was concerned with his behavior on Nov. 4 because family members alerted her that he was acting strange and lighting a gas fireplace with paper. When she arrived at the house, she said, Boone didn’t know who she was.

“I went to the door and he said, ‘Are you the lady who’s bringing me my groceries?’” Torres testified.

Torres said she called her service coordinator at Easter Seals and asked how to handle the situation and was told to call Metro’s crisis intervention team. The family was also notified, she said.

Metro Police officer Jerry Ybarra, one of three officers who responded to the call, said Friday that officers tried to coax Dustin Boone out of his house because they believed he was a danger to himself.

When he refused to come out, Ybarra said, he and two other officers entered the house through a back sliding door.

Dustin Boone was naked with a pair of black sunglasses on his head and standing near a back bedroom, he said.

“He kept saying, ‘What are you doing here? Why are you here to kill me?’” Ybarra said. “He was urinating, defecating himself and sweating. We were just trying to get him some help.”

Metro Police officer Kevin Koval testified that he made the first contact with Boone by grabbing his right wrist and trying to convince him to sit down in the living room.

“I let him know we’ll help get him dressed and then get him checked out by medical personnel,” Koval said.

Koval said Boone then began to swing his arms violently. Ybarra said Boone was about 5-foot-10 and weighed 343 pounds, and it took all three officers to try to restrain him.

Koval said he administered the neck restraint.

When the officers finally subdued Boone, they rolled him over on his back. Ybarra said he was breathing but slowly. He said the officers tried to wake him up but couldn’t. Paramedics, already at the house, were called to the backyard to treat him, Ybarra said.

Paramedic Amanda Meagher said noticed Boone’s face was blue.

“I asked why is he not breathing?” Meagher said. “He didn’t have a pulse, so we got him on a gurney and to the front yard.”

Meagher said she was not able to revive Boone, though a pulse and heart rhythm were temporarily established at the hospital.

After the inquest, Boone’s mother, Dorothy, said that what happened to her son “makes me sick. I want to make sure this never happens again.”