Jury deliberating in civil rights case linked to airport police beating
A federal jury must decide whether two Las Vegas police officers used reasonable force or excessive force when they arrested a National Guard sergeant in 2007 at McCarran International Airport.
Jurors deliberated about two hours Thursday afternoon in the civil rights case filed by combat medic Mark England. They are scheduled to resume their discussions Friday morning.
“If you believe his constitutional rights were violated, he is entitled to compensation,” attorney Brent Bryson told jurors Thursday.
But attorney Craig Anderson, who represents Las Vegas police officer Jason Jennings and former Las Vegas police officer Gary Clark, asked the jury to rule in favor of his clients and restore their reputations.
“They have waited for this day for seven years,” Anderson said.
A surveillance camera recorded England’s arrest from a distance, and the video was played repeatedly for the jury during the four-day trial. Bryson, who represents England, played it again during his closing argument.
“Ladies and gentleman, what you just saw is excessive force,” Bryson said. “You saw it with your own eyes.”
England, who lived in Southern California at the time, had come to Las Vegas to spend time with a friend before an expected deployment overseas.
He was heading home on March 10, 2007, when he purchased a hot dog and a soda at the airport. An argument ensued after a Transportation Security Administration agent refused to let England take the soda past the C Gate’s security checkpoint.
England asked to speak to the agent’s supervisor, who later summoned Jennings to the scene.
After doing some investigating, Jennings allowed England to leave, but England arrived at the C Gate to find that he had missed his flight and would not be able to catch another for three hours. He decided to return to the security checkpoint.
“He wanted to make a complaint,” Bryson said.
The attorney said Jennings was embarrassed that passers-by could hear England yelling at him, so the officer used his baton to teach England a lesson: “Don’t you dare question our authority.”
But Anderson said the officer was attempting to handcuff “an unruly, belligerent person” and used the least amount of force needed to do so.
Jennings testified that he struck England a total of three times while he resisted arrest.
Clark then used an electroshock weapon at least three times on England, who fell after the first shock and hit his head on a doorjamb.
“They were upset, and they gave him a beat-down for it,” Bryson argued. “The law says you can’t do that.”
The attorney said England’s injuries included bruises, lacerations and three broken ribs.
England denied that he was yelling and using profanity before his arrest.
“It doesn’t matter if he was using profanity,” Bryson told the jury. “It’s a smokescreen.”
Senior U.S. District Judge Philip Pro is presiding over the case, which has spent time at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
England is now 44 and a staff sergeant with the National Guard. He lives in Searcy, Ark.
Clark now lives in Georgia, where he is a reserve officer. He said he expects to graduate in three weeks with a bachelor’s degree in nursing.
Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710. Find her on Twitter: @CarriGeer.
