Metro the 'moving force' behind killer cops
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATED DEC. 23, 2001
THE LIBERTARIAN, By Vin Suprynowicz
Metro the 'moving force' behind killer cops
One of Clark County's increasingly discredited coroner's inquests ruled 6-1 in May of 1999 that Metropolitan Police Officer Bruce Gentner was justified when he emptied the 14-round magazine of his service pistol at unarmed 32-year-old pedestrian John Perrin for the alleged offense of putting his hands in his waistband. (Officer Gentner's marksmanship was below .500 -- only six .40-caliber bullets struck Perrin, though that still proved adequate to kill him.)
But last Friday, U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt refused to throw out a civil suit by Perrin's family here in Las Vegas, seeking damages from Metro for the way Officer Gentner was trained and supervised ... or, perhaps, not trained an supervised.
Judge Hunt did not predict which side would prevail at trial, but his strongly worded order indicates things are not as rosy over at Metro as the captive coroner's inquest system might have led some to believe.
There is evidence that Officer Gentner may have given Perrin no warning that he was considering using deadly force, the judge found. And even if the victim had been warned, Gentner's second volley of shots may have been unnecessary and unreasonable. Depositions from two citizens who report Gentner also pulled his gun on them and began screaming orders without provocation -- and one from a former colleague who asked not to be assigned to work with Gentner again because the officer was "badge heavy" -- give evidence that the officer "had a tendency to mistreat citizens and to escalate routine stops by unnecessarily threatening the use of force," the judge ruled.
Attorneys for the Perrin family have presented sufficient evidence that "Metro's policy of inadequate training and supervision was the moving force behind officer Gentner's use of deadly force against an unarmed jaywalker," the judge found.
"From the statements of those who worked with and came in contact with Officer Gentner, it appears that Officer Gentner has a tendency not only to use excessive force, but to misperceive potential safety threats," the judge writes. "If Officer Gentner's own fellow officers were afraid to work with him, surely Metro was on constructive notice that Gentner was not only a potential threat to public safety, but that he regularly flaunted constitutional safeguards intended to protect citizens against the use of excessive force."
Strong words. But if this is all true -- and the finding of an impartial federal judge certainly must carry some weight -- then why did the county coroner's inquest overwhelmingly clear Officer Gentner in this case, as it has done in 79 of 80 questionable officer-involved killings in recent history?
Judge Hunt's ruling "makes plain what a travesty the coroner's inquest system is and how badly it needs to be reformed to allow for meaningful challenges to official police versions of events by those who have reason to be skeptical," answers Gary Peck, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada.
At the 1999 inquest, neither the Perrin family nor their attorney were allowed to question Officer Gentner directly, while he was under oath. Rather, as is standard in those "Get Out of Jail Free" proceedings, they were permitted only to submit questions in writing to be asked of Officer Gentner by the hearing officer, if he so chose. And indeed, a good many of the questions they submitted -- including whether Officer Gentner has used steroids or could have been under the influence of steroids at the time of the fatal shooting -- were never asked at all.
Mr. Peck also rightly questions the way Metro handles officers who have killed unarmed citizens not wanted for any serious crime. Officer George Pease was merely reassigned, for instance, after running up a string of three unarmed hobos killed during his late-night forays into areas where he knew such men were encamped. And officer Gentner himself was rewarded with a promotion to the rank of narcotics detective after "making his bones" with the Perrin killing.
"In the wake of the shooting and the obvious questions it raised," Mr. Peck goes on, "Metro chose to move Officer Gentner into a more prestigious position and one where he is more likely to have to make split-second, life-and-death decisions that might imperil other law-abiding people."
Brent Bryson, attorney for the Perrin family, said this week that he hopes to take the case to trial and has no plans to accept a settlement.
"We want the community to know what's going on here. We want to shed some light on the entire police force," he vows.
Good. Any non-uniformed citizen accused of killing an unarmed person by mistake would be likely to lose his gun and his job, and run up considerable legal bills trying to justify his actions -- at the very least. Should the standards be set any lower for government officers supposedly trained, evaluated, and selected for their ability to avoid just such outcomes?
Vin Suprynowicz is assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Subscribe to his monthly newsletter by sending $72 to Privacy Alert, 561 Keystone Ave., Suite 684, Reno, NV 89503 -- or dialing 775-348-8591.
Vin Suprynowicz, vin@lvrj.com
"When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved, as a rule the majority are wrong. The minority are right." -- Eugene V. Debs (1855-1926)
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