The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s Fiscal Affairs Committee is expected to decide Monday whether to approve a settlement in the 2010 death of Anthony Jones.
The committee’s recommendation is to approve the $500,000 settlement as a “compromise of a disputed claim.”
Jones was pulled over during a traffic stop in December 2010, during which he fled from police after being asked to get out of his car.
According to a report from the District Attorney’s office, a struggle ensued and the officer deployed his Taser to subdue Jones. After being tased and arrested, Jones stopped breathing.
He was taken to Valley Hospital Medical Center, where he died.
According to the autopsy report, the cause of death was from cocaine and ethanol intoxication, but other contributing factors included an enlarged heart due to obesity, mild hypertension and “police restraining procedure.”
In a 2017 investigation, Reuters tracked “1,005 people who have died in the United States following encounters with police in which Tasers were used.”
Those cases range from 1983 until July 2017, and 44 percent of them resulted in wrongful death lawsuits. Reuters estimated there were at least $172 million in payouts from cities and their insurers, but that figure doesn’t include settlements that were confidential or unavailable.
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