A file image of a judge's gavel in a courtroom at the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.
A Superior court judge has denied several Tucson police officers qualified immunity five years after an in-custody death in which officers kneeled on a suspect’s back.
In March 2020, Damien Alvarado fled the scene of a car crash at Fort Lowell and Prince Road.
When Tucson Police Department officers arrested him, they kneeled on his back for nearly three minutes, even after he was having trouble breathing, according to his lawyer Paul Gattone.
“All these officers with their weight on top of him, especially when he said seven times, I can't breathe, and they just blew it off, right? They would not take it seriously and continue to put pressure on him,” he said.
Alvarado's mother, Irene Briseno, sued the City of Tucson, ten police officers and two firefighters involved in the incident.
Judge Raner C. Collins wrote the level of restraint was “at minimum, severe.”
“Defendants themselves assert that the use of bodyweight compression on a prone individual can be considered severe or even deadly force,” the opinion reads.
The ruling means the officers involved can be held responsible for civil damages, and the case can proceed to either a settlement or a trial. But Gattone said Briseno also wants the case to bring about meaningful change.
“She wants some justice and accountability. That's primarily what she's seeking, although the reality is that the most that a court can award is damages, but we're hopeful that any damages that are assessed will lead to a change in policy and attitude that will prevent the death of other people's sons in the future,” Gattone.
According to the ruling, officers also put two separate Total Appendage Restraint Procedures (TARPs) on him, which tie arms and legs together and restrict movement, and two spit hoods.
The Pima County Medical Examiner ruled his death was accidental, caused by “sudden cardiac arrest in the setting of acute methamphetamine intoxication and restraint,” exacerbated by a heart condition.
Collins wrote the word “restraint” is vague, but that a jury could reasonably conclude it meant the weight of the officers on Alvarado’s body, or the use of TARP’s and spit hoods.
Alvarado’s case, and the in-custody death of Carlos Adrian Ingram Lopez, were the subject of an in-depth Associated Press article in Oct. 2024, as part of a series on lethal restraint. The piece focused on TPD’s delay in releasing information about the deaths, and their similarities to that of George Floyd, whose death sparked nationwide protests over deadly police practices during arrests.
Gattone said a settlement conference is scheduled for May.
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