[Kzyxtalk] [MCN-Discussion]- " Can't Breathe," Mendo Style

[David Gurney]

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.
D.G.

On Thu, Mar 14, 2019 at 12:55 PM David Gurney <jugglestone at gmail.com> wrote:

> "I Can't Breathe," Mendo Style
> By David Gurney
>
> Yesterday, civil rights lawyers Haddad & Sherwin announced a five million
> dollar settlement against the Willits Police Department, Mendocino County
> Sheriffs, and their forensic nurse services, for the jailhouse murder of a
> non-violent intoxicated man named Steven Neuroth.  The wrongful death suit
> was brought by Neuroth's brother.  Grisly video of this murder was posted
> to Youtube by the law firm on Tuesday:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8iUweS4xfg
>
> The Santa Rosa Press Democrat article is here: http://tinyurl.com/y3etzx98
>
> =========================
>
> Steven Neuroth was a harmless man, diagnosed as a schizophrenic, but
> described by friends as "the most caring and kindest person I have ever
> known," and by a former employer as "a gentle soul trying to make his way
> as best he could."  As for why he was picked up on the streets of Willits
> at 10pm on the night of June 10, 2014 for "running in traffic." (i.e.
> jaywalking - for which he was not charged) is unclear, but a sadistic cop
> named Kevin Leef arrested him for methamphetamine intoxication, and
> proceeded to intentionally provoke and terrify the unfortunate man in
> psychiatric distress during the ride to the Ukiah jail in his patrol car.
> Officer Leef is caught on tape in the receiving garage of the jail,
> conspiring with a Sheriff's deputy to intentionally trigger Neuroth's
> paranoid delirium by making sharp noises as they removed him from the
> patrol car.  Leef can also be heard bragging and laughing about the terror
> he'd provoked in his victim by yelling "Snakes!" as they were in the car,
> knowing full well the type of reaction this provocation would cause in a
> meth addled subject.  Officer Leef was never charged with a crime, and on
> the contrary has been promoted, and is now a sergeant with the Willits PD.
>
> How Steven Neuroth came across the the amphetamines found in his system by
> autopsy will never be known, nor the circumstances leading to his arrest,
> but if The Big Lebowski had taken place in Willits, "The Dude" might also
> be dead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNqLoFHJxM0
>
> Since the time of Mendocino's own "I can't breathe" moment, nothing much
> has been made of this incident, which in another place might have made
> national headlines.  The county's only weekly newspaper, the Anderson
> Valley Advertiser, described the the incident as the victim's own fault for
> being on drugs.  When video of the jail beating and suffocation surfaced in
> June of 2018, the obsequious editor of the reviled publication, Bruce
> Anderson, claimed after watching it that, "I didn't see anything that could
> be described as gratuitous violence…the 'distraction blows' were more like
> rabbit punches aimed at getting a key into Neuroth's handcuffs to get him
> out of the handcuffs. The punches clearly weren't intended to hurt the
> prisoner" and "the officers did what they were supposed to do."  Mr
> Anderson frequently brags in a narcissistic daily column about friendly
> visits from law enforcement to his editorial offices, and once chortled
> about District Attorney David Eyster dropping by to deliver a box of Milk
> Bones for his pet dog.  Predictably, the dereliction of duty by top law
> enforcement officials and local news media to investigate this murder has
> been written off as a joke.
>
> Head Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman has stated the obvious, but
> covered up the truth, by claiming that "given the level of illegal
> substance found in his blood, certainly one could assume that was a
> contribution to this unfortunate situation.” But the autopsy revealed a
> broken rib and multiple bruises and lacerations all over Mr. Neuroth's body
> as a result of his beating and suffocation, and the five million dollar
> judgment clearly indicates who and what was actually to blame for Steven
> Neuroth's death.  Sheriff Allman publicly claimed the incident was an
> isolated aberration from the many hundreds of subjects brought into
> custody, but five months after the Neuroth murder another man was tazed to
> death by Sheriff's deputies in Point Arena, the second tazer death reported
> so far in Mendocino County.  Who knows what currently takes place at
> Sheriff Allman's Abu Ghraib of the west?
>
> In the video, Neuroth can be heard begging for his tormentors not to kill
> him, to please not hurt him, and that he can't breathe.  At no time during
> his detainment did he attempt to attack or strike an officer.  In the jail,
> he is shown being shoved from the rear with his hands shackled behind his
> back, and when attempting to regain his balance, is instead brutally taken
> to the floor.  After that, the sound on the video is cut off while as he is
> repeatedly punched, tortured with "pain compliance holds," then asphyxiated
> and left to die, face down on the jailhouse floor.  A more gruesome scene
> could not from come from anyone's worst sadistic nightmare.
>
> Given the fact that justice in this case will probably never be served, the
> only good that can be pointed to, beyond the monetary judgement for the
> taking of a human life, is the fact that the representing law firm demanded
> in the settlement much needed reforms to the Willits Police and Mendocino
> County Sheriffs, in how they deal with their victims taken into custody.
> Hopefully these reforms will actually take place, and the dark and dirty
> video from the Mendocino County Jail, showing a midnight murder at the
> hands of deputies, who so far remain unprosecuted, will never be allowed to
> happen again.
>
> A full legal description of the occurrences surrounding Steven Neuroth's
> murder can be found here:
> https://www.leagle.com/decision/infdco20180904893
>
>
> # # #
> __________________________________________________________
> __________________________________________________________
> The Mendocino Community Network (MCN) provides the MCN Discussion list.
> Use of the list is subject to the terms of service at
> http://www.mcn.org/email/dtos.html
> TO UNSUBSCRIBE from this list send an email to
> discussion-leave at lists.mcn.org
> (To complete the process you must reply to the email you receive in
> response)
> For listserv technical problems please contact:  listmanager at mcn.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.mcn.org/pipermail/kzyxtalk/attachments/20190314/325e09a7/attachment-0001.html