by Yvonne Wingett and JJ Hensley
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday approved the settlement with no discussion. Supervisors Don Stapley, Fulton Brock and Max Wilson OK'd the settlement; the two other supervisors were absent.
Maricopa County Sheriff's Deputy Chief Jack MacIntyre said resolving the claim now was a good business decision for the county and good for the Nido family.
The suit highlighted the Sheriff's Office's anti-immigrant reputation and accuse Sheriff Joe Arpaio of failing to properly train deputies how to interact with minority suspects.
In February 2009, Armando L. Nido was arrested after Deputy James Carey tried to pull him over in Tempe for a broken taillight, according to a notice of claim filed with the county and other public records.
Nido stopped and started his car several times during the course of Carey's traffic stop, which is common for drunken-driving suspects, MacIntyre said. Nido claimed he was afraid to stop because of the "pattern and practice" of sheriff's deputies to treat Hispanic residents differently because of their ethinicity. When Nido finally came to a complete stop in front of his home, Carey tried to block Nido's car and hit the suspect with his squad car, pinning Nido underneath it.
"That's when everything turned into an exercise in poor judgment," MacIntyre said. "Blocking the vehicle is one thing, running the person over is another. I'm glad that we could resolve this at this point in time. There's no reason to continue litigation."
Nido remained pinned until paramedics arrived, according to the complaint, and the situation drew Nido's mother and brothers out of the house. They also claimed they suffered physical and emotional injuries from the scuffle that took place with Carey.
Carey has resigned from the Sheriff's Office, a Sheriff's chief deputy has said.
No comments:
Post a Comment