Asotin County and City of Clarkston concede culpability in the 2005 death of an impaired young man in the Asotin County Jail.
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Three years after 19-year-old Tyler Shaw was forcibly and fatally subdued with Tasers and other measures in the Asotin County Jail, the county and the City of Clarkston have formally accepted responsibility for the young Asotin man’s death. The formal pleadings, known as offers of judgment, have been accepted by the Shaw family. The Shaws have been represented by Spokane’s Maxey Law Office and the Center for Justice.
Tyler’s parents, Jay and Laurette Shaw, filed a federal lawsuit in 2007 seeking wrongful death and other damages from the two entities.
“What this means to us,” says Jay Shaw, “is that Asotin County and the City of Clarkston have taken responsibility for Tyler’s death and are finally and formally admitting culpability for the way they mishandled the events leading to his death.”
“I hope the community will see that changes in policy at the jail are absolutely necessary. Tyler was in a medical emergency and his needs were ignored and misunderstood. Certainly one lesson is that the overuse of Tasers on already restrained detainees can be deadly and will lead to more deaths in U.S. jails if the practice goes unchecked. No one wants to see another tragedy like this. Not us, and not police or jail officers.”–Laurette Shaw, Tyler’s mother.
Under terms of the two offers of judgment, Asotin County will pay the family $120,000 plus costs and attorney fees. Clarkston will pay the family $30,000.
“When we filed this suit we were seeking millions of dollars for the loss of our son and planned to use the money to work for reforms in the Asotin County system,” says Laurette Shaw, Tyler’s mother. “We also wanted to send a signal to the defendants that we were serious. Our first objective was for them to accept responsibility for what happened to Tyler, and now that they’ve accepted responsibility it’s up to us and others in our community to insist upon the reforms needed to make sure this never happens again.”
Says Center for Justice attorney Breean Beggs: “On November 10th, Asotin County’s former sheriff Wayne Weber, ten of the county’s jail personnel and the jail physician, Dr. Dennis Mountjoy reversed three years of denial and offered to admit their unequivocal responsibility for the death of Tyler Shaw. They used a rare procedural move called a ‘FRCP 68 Offer of Judgment.’ This Offer of Judgment admits the truth of the plaintiff’s allegations, as described in the complaint, in exchange for an end to the case at a sum certain. On Thursday, December 11th, the City of Clarkston submitted a similar offer of judgment that the family has now accepted. This now means both jurisdictions acknowledge culpability for Tyler’s tragic death and brings an end to the litigation.”
Both Beggs and the Shaw family say they’re dismayed by earlier press accounts in which named Asotin County officials, while disclosing that an agreement to end the case was near, continued to make assertions indicating County officers were not to blame for Tyler Shaw’s death. This was especially hurtful to the Shaws who, in the days following Tyler’s death, endured public statements from Asotin officials suggesting their son had killed himself.
With the offers of judgment from Asotin and Clarkston, said Tyler’s older sister Tami Meyers, “they are finally taking responsibility and not blaming my brother.”
Beggs explained that the Rule 68 maneuver is rarely used because most defendants are unwilling to admit guilt or responsibility even if they fear a jury verdict.
On November 25, 2005, Asotin County jail officers and police officers from the City of Clarkston were involved in a violent effort, involving multiple baton strikes and Taser firings, to subdue Tyler, who suffered from bipolar disorder. The 2007 lawsuit alleged wrongful death, failure to provide effective medical/mental health care, and that the defendants engaged in “extreme and outrageous conduct, beyond the bounds of decency,” leading to emotional distress, pain and suffering, humiliation and death.
“I hope the community will see that changes in policy at the jail are absolutely necessary,” Laurette said Monday. “Tyler was in a medical emergency and his needs were ignored and misunderstood. Certainly one lesson is that the overuse of Tasers on already restrained detainees can be deadly and will lead to more deaths in U.S. jails if the practice goes unchecked. No one wants to see another tragedy like this. Not us, and not police or jail officers.”
The Shaws say they will continue to be active in pursuing reforms at state and national level. They are active in an Asotin County organization, “Community on Call,” that works with at risk individuals in Asotin County. The Shaws also support the work of the National Association of Mental Illness (NAMI) in educating professionals on issues surrounding mental illness and incarceration.
