<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:small">Correction: The AVA is not Mendocino County's only weekly - Gualala's 'Independent Coast Observer' (ICO) covered Steven Neuroth's murder, and yesterday's settlement, on the front page of their paper.<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:small">D.G.<br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div class="gmail_attr" dir="ltr">On Thu, Mar 14, 2019 at 12:55 PM David Gurney <<a href="mailto:jugglestone@gmail.com">jugglestone@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex" class="gmail_quote">"I Can't Breathe," Mendo Style<br>
By David Gurney<br>
<br>
Yesterday, civil rights lawyers Haddad & Sherwin announced a five million<br>
dollar settlement against the Willits Police Department, Mendocino County<br>
Sheriffs, and their forensic nurse services, for the jailhouse murder of a<br>
non-violent intoxicated man named Steven Neuroth. The wrongful death suit<br>
was brought by Neuroth's brother. Grisly video of this murder was posted<br>
to Youtube by the law firm on Tuesday:<br>
<a target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8iUweS4xfg">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8iUweS4xfg</a><br>
<br>
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat article is here: <a target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" href="http://tinyurl.com/y3etzx98">http://tinyurl.com/y3etzx98</a><br>
<br>
=========================<br>
<br>
Steven Neuroth was a harmless man, diagnosed as a schizophrenic, but<br>
described by friends as "the most caring and kindest person I have ever<br>
known," and by a former employer as "a gentle soul trying to make his way<br>
as best he could." As for why he was picked up on the streets of Willits<br>
at 10pm on the night of June 10, 2014 for "running in traffic." (i.e.<br>
jaywalking - for which he was not charged) is unclear, but a sadistic cop<br>
named Kevin Leef arrested him for methamphetamine intoxication, and<br>
proceeded to intentionally provoke and terrify the unfortunate man in<br>
psychiatric distress during the ride to the Ukiah jail in his patrol car.<br>
Officer Leef is caught on tape in the receiving garage of the jail,<br>
conspiring with a Sheriff's deputy to intentionally trigger Neuroth's<br>
paranoid delirium by making sharp noises as they removed him from the<br>
patrol car. Leef can also be heard bragging and laughing about the terror<br>
he'd provoked in his victim by yelling "Snakes!" as they were in the car,<br>
knowing full well the type of reaction this provocation would cause in a<br>
meth addled subject. Officer Leef was never charged with a crime, and on<br>
the contrary has been promoted, and is now a sergeant with the Willits PD.<br>
<br>
How Steven Neuroth came across the the amphetamines found in his system by<br>
autopsy will never be known, nor the circumstances leading to his arrest,<br>
but if The Big Lebowski had taken place in Willits, "The Dude" might also<br>
be dead: <a target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNqLoFHJxM0">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNqLoFHJxM0</a><br>
<br>
Since the time of Mendocino's own "I can't breathe" moment, nothing much<br>
has been made of this incident, which in another place might have made<br>
national headlines. The county's only weekly newspaper, the Anderson<br>
Valley Advertiser, described the the incident as the victim's own fault for<br>
being on drugs. When video of the jail beating and suffocation surfaced in<br>
June of 2018, the obsequious editor of the reviled publication, Bruce<br>
Anderson, claimed after watching it that, "I didn't see anything that could<br>
be described as gratuitous violence…the 'distraction blows' were more like<br>
rabbit punches aimed at getting a key into Neuroth's handcuffs to get him<br>
out of the handcuffs. The punches clearly weren't intended to hurt the<br>
prisoner" and "the officers did what they were supposed to do." Mr<br>
Anderson frequently brags in a narcissistic daily column about friendly<br>
visits from law enforcement to his editorial offices, and once chortled<br>
about District Attorney David Eyster dropping by to deliver a box of Milk<br>
Bones for his pet dog. Predictably, the dereliction of duty by top law<br>
enforcement officials and local news media to investigate this murder has<br>
been written off as a joke.<br>
<br>
Head Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman has stated the obvious, but<br>
covered up the truth, by claiming that "given the level of illegal<br>
substance found in his blood, certainly one could assume that was a<br>
contribution to this unfortunate situation.” But the autopsy revealed a<br>
broken rib and multiple bruises and lacerations all over Mr. Neuroth's body<br>
as a result of his beating and suffocation, and the five million dollar<br>
judgment clearly indicates who and what was actually to blame for Steven<br>
Neuroth's death. Sheriff Allman publicly claimed the incident was an<br>
isolated aberration from the many hundreds of subjects brought into<br>
custody, but five months after the Neuroth murder another man was tazed to<br>
death by Sheriff's deputies in Point Arena, the second tazer death reported<br>
so far in Mendocino County. Who knows what currently takes place at<br>
Sheriff Allman's Abu Ghraib of the west?<br>
<br>
In the video, Neuroth can be heard begging for his tormentors not to kill<br>
him, to please not hurt him, and that he can't breathe. At no time during<br>
his detainment did he attempt to attack or strike an officer. In the jail,<br>
he is shown being shoved from the rear with his hands shackled behind his<br>
back, and when attempting to regain his balance, is instead brutally taken<br>
to the floor. After that, the sound on the video is cut off while as he is<br>
repeatedly punched, tortured with "pain compliance holds," then asphyxiated<br>
and left to die, face down on the jailhouse floor. A more gruesome scene<br>
could not from come from anyone's worst sadistic nightmare.<br>
<br>
Given the fact that justice in this case will probably never be served, the<br>
only good that can be pointed to, beyond the monetary judgement for the<br>
taking of a human life, is the fact that the representing law firm demanded<br>
in the settlement much needed reforms to the Willits Police and Mendocino<br>
County Sheriffs, in how they deal with their victims taken into custody.<br>
Hopefully these reforms will actually take place, and the dark and dirty<br>
video from the Mendocino County Jail, showing a midnight murder at the<br>
hands of deputies, who so far remain unprosecuted, will never be allowed to<br>
happen again.<br>
<br>
A full legal description of the occurrences surrounding Steven Neuroth's<br>
murder can be found here: <a target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" href="https://www.leagle.com/decision/infdco20180904893">https://www.leagle.com/decision/infdco20180904893</a><br>
<br>
<br>
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