Family of man who died in police custody sues

The family of a Utah man who died in Las Vegas police custody exactly two years ago today has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

On Jan. 31, 2020, David “Davy” Baxter’s friend called 911 from a home near Russell Road and Tenaya Way to report that he was concerned for the 37-year-old after Baxter, who was from Hurricane, Utah, had taken methamphetamine.

After officials arrived, Baxter was dragged from the floor of the home’s garage, handcuffed, lifted onto a gurney and restrained so that he could not breathe, according to the lawsuit filed in District Court on Friday.

The Clark County coroner’s office has ruled Baxter’s death a homicide due to methamphetamine intoxication. The police restraint was a significant condition of his death, along with severe coronary artery disease and cardiomegaly, meaning an enlarged heart.

A homicide ruling from the coroner’s office means that another person killed someone, not that a criminal act happened.

“It’s a tragic death that could have been avoided had the correct procedures been implemented by the paramedics and the officers of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department,” Brent Bryson, the attorney representing Baxter’s family, said Monday.

Baxter’s mother, Lisa Baxter, and his sister, Tasha, filed the suit against Metro, the Clark County Fire Department, the ambulance company American Medical Response, and the paramedics and officers who were involved in restraining Baxter.

A spokesman for Clark County declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing the pending litigation. Metro and American Medical Response did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.

Metro has said Baxter’s friend told dispatchers the 37-year-old was suicidal, although Bryson wrote in the lawsuit that the friend “did not say that the 911 call he was making was in regard to a suicide.”

Officials found Baxter in the home’s garage, “twitching and acting confused.” During a fact-finding review held in November, the Metro detective who oversaw the investigation into Baxter’s death said he showed signs of “excited delirium.”

Metro considers the condition a “state of extreme excitation, usually associated with illicit or prescription drug use,” which can result in “sudden or unexplained death, ” the detective, Jason Leavitt, said during the November hearing.

According to the lawsuit, a fire department official who entered the garage failed to check Baxter’s vital signs “or provide him any medical treatment.” Baxter was acting “confused and helpless,” but was not showing signs of “aggressive combative behavior.”

“Four LVMPD officers dragged Mr. Baxter from his seated position on the floor onto his stomach, placed him in a prone position, and attempted to handcuff him,” Bryson wrote in the lawsuit.

An American Medical Response paramedic gave Baxter a sedative shot, and officials lifted Baxter onto a gurney while he was handcuffed, laying face up, the suit said.

One the gurney was taken out of the garage, the officials sat Baxter up and attempted to remove his handcuffs. Two paramedics and an officer pushed Baxter’s head and neck forward, the suit said.

“Mr. Baxter was placed in a seated position with his head pulled so hard forward that he could not breathe at all for more than sixty seconds,” according to the lawsuit.

By the time Baxter was laid back down on the gurney, he had stopped breathing, the suit said. He was pronounced dead at Spring Valley Hospital Medical Center an hour after police were first called to the house.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.