Cops used Unnecessary Force Killing Black Man
About 40 friends and family members of a man who died in police custody in Nashville, Ark., gathered Wednesday morning on the steps of the state Capitol, trying to bring attention to a civil lawsuit alleging police brutality in the September 2003 incident. The lawsuit, filed on Sept. 13 in federal court in Texarkana-exactly a year after the incident-contends that Larry "Nicky" Hill died as a result of excessive force by Nashville and Howard County officers after Hill was stopped him on suspicion of drunken driving. "Larry Hill was a victim of excessive force and deliberate indifference," said A.C. Dumas, spokesman for Hill's family. The lawsuit contends that while trying to arrest Hill, Cogburn "unnecessarily and with unnecessary force" struck Hill in the right side of the head with his right fist. It was that injury, as well as officers' subsequent "refusal to obtain medical care" for Hill, that caused Hill's death, according to the suit. The results of an independent autopsy concluded that the ``manner of Hill's death should be ruled as homicide'' because his death occurred as a result of a violent struggle with police officers. The family is asking the court to grant a permanent injunction enjoining the police in Nashville and Howard County from using excessive force. [more
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