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Family sues city, officer in death
By RICHARD DANIELSON, Times Staff Writer
TARPON SPRINGS -- The family of a drug suspect who died eight days after a Tarpon Springs police officer wrestled him to the ground, causing fatal head injuries, has sued the city in U.S. District Court in Tampa. William Keith Anderson's family contends in a 13-page lawsuit filed Thursday that Officer Romando Black slammed Anderson's head to the ground during an arrest the afternoon of June 8, 2000, causing "blunt traumatic head injury, skull fractures and brain contusions." Anderson, 39, of New Port Richey lost consciousness and was flown to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, where he remained in critical condition until he died on June 16, 2000. Along with the city, the suit names Black and police Chief Mark LeCouris as defendants. It contends that Black used excessive force in his confrontation with Anderson and that LeCouris had tolerated Black's use of excessive force in the past. It seeks more than $300,000 in damages on behalf of Anderson's mother, Faye Mayes; his ex-wife, Donna Anderson; and his children, Mari and Brian. Police spokesman Sgt. Jeffrey Young referred questions about the lawsuit to City Attorney John Hubbard, who said the city had not been served with the suit and that he knew nothing about it. LeCouris and Black did not return messages for them left with police dispatchers Friday evening. In the past, however, police and prosecutors have said Black did not use excessive force and have given this account of the incident: On the day in question, Black was standing outside the Cops & Kids Outreach Center on E Harrison Street about 6 p.m. when Anderson approached him and said he wanted to buy crack cocaine. Black was on duty but wearing plain clothes. A former narcotics officer, Black played along, telling Anderson that he would call his supplier. Instead, he used his cell phone to call other officers. When Black pulled his police badge, grabbed Anderson's shirt and told him he was under arrest, Anderson pulled away and struck Black's right arm, causing Black to lose his grip on the shirt. Black then grabbed Anderson with both arms around his upper torso and took Anderson to the ground. Anderson's head struck the sidewalk, knocking him unconscious. Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe concluded that Black "was in lawful performance of his legal duty" when he tried to arrest Anderson. "The force used by (Black) was necessary to effectuate the arrest and was not excessive," McCabe said in a letter to LeCouris. McCabe's office interviewed several witnesses, including two neighbors, a 7-year-old and a 10-year-old from the youth center. They all said under oath that Black was trying to maintain custody of Anderson when the injury occurred. McCabe's letter said Anderson's blood alcohol content was 0.18 percent -- more than twice the level at which a person is presumed to be impaired under Florida law -- at the time of the injury. Before he died, Anderson was charged with attempting to purchase crack cocaine and resisting arrest with violence. He had no prior criminal record in the state, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The lawsuit, filed by Tarpon Springs attorney John A. Shahan, contends that an unnamed witness saw Anderson "slammed to the ground" and that Anderson rose "slowly three times and (tried) to leave when Romando Black slammed his head to the asphalt on three separate occasions." That witness, medical evidence, an independent forensic analysis of Anderson's autopsy and photographs "prove that . . . Black did much more than push Anderson down, as he admitted in his police reports," according to the suit. Shahan could not be reached for comment Friday evening. -- Richard Danielson can be reached at (727) 445-4194 or danielson@sptimes.com .
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From the Times North Pinellas desks |
