$7M OK’d to settle suit over jail death
Family alleged officers mistreated man in 2011
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors approved a $7 million payout Wednesday to the family of Ernest “Marty” Atencio, who died after a 2011 incident at a county jail.
Atencio’s family claimed that sheriff ’s officials used excessive force against the 44-year-old while he was incarcerated, punching him in the face and shooting him with a stun gun close to his heart.
The lawsuit names both sheriff ’s detention officers, as well as Phoenix police officers, as defendants in the case. A Phoenix spokeswoman has not yet responded to a query about a potential settlement from the city. A trial in federal court is scheduled for May 15.
Plaintiffs’ attorney Mike Manning said Atencio’s family is pleased with the outcome of the settlement and are expecting a favorable verdict or settlement from the city.
“They realize that this is a very strong statement of apology,” he said.
In a statement, county Board of Supervisors spokesman Fields Moseley said Atencio’s death was “not the re-
sult we expect when someone arrives at one of our Maricopa County jails.”
“The Board of Supervisors hopes this settlement allows the Atencio family to move forward and the county to continue focusing on improving its complex jail system that sees approximately 100,000 people every year,” he said.
When reached for comment Wednesday, former Sheriff Joe Arpaio referred questions to his former chief deputy, Jerry Sheridan, who attended the Board of Supervisors meeting. Sheridan is considering a run for Maricopa County sheriff in 2020.
“Any time we lose someone while in custody, it’s very sad,” he said of Atencio. “But we looked at this case extensively, and if you watch the video with a trained eye, you’ll see that none of the sheriff ’s officers used excessive force against Mr. Atencio.”
Sheridan said he didn’t know why the county settled for $7 million, as the decision was reached after he and Arpaio left the Sheriff’s Office.
“These high-settlement awards, I believe, are the results of the plaintiffs’ lawyers,” he said. “What they have done for years and years is try to paint Sheriff Arpaio’s jails in a poor light, and that has been a disservice not only to Sheriff Arpaio and all the people that work there, but also to the 4 million taxpayers in Maricopa County.”
The allegations stem from an incident on Dec. 15, 2011. Atencio was initially arrested by Phoenix police on suspicion of misdemeanor assault after he frightened a woman by kicking at her apartment door. It was the second time they encountered him that day. Earlier, the same officers found Atencio acting erratically at a 7-Eleven convenience store.
The officers took Atencio to a south Phoenix command station and then to the county’s Fourth Avenue Jail for booking.
The lawsuit states that Atencio was instructed to take off his shoes to go through a scanner and that a Phoenix police officer began struggling with him after he refused.
The suit claims that Arpaio’s officers joined in the struggle and formed a “dog pile” atop the inmate, shooting him with a stun gun and striking him with a closed fist.
“While he was being tased, punched and manhandled, Marty cried out in pain,” the suit states.
The suit additionally claims that the jail failed to treat Atencio for his mental illness. A Correctional Health Services employee had screened Atencio before, the claim states, and noted at the time that he appeared psychotic, using “word salad.”
Manning said Atencio was kept on life support for four days before he died.
An autopsy completed by the Maricopa Medical Examiner’s Office states Atencio’s death was caused by “complications of cardiac arrest in the setting of acute psychosis, law enforcement subdual, and multiple medical problems. The manner of death is listed as ‘undetermined.’”
The settlement is one of several big-ticket payouts stemming from Arpaio’s 24 years in office.
In another case, the county and its insurance carrier paid $8.25 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged some of Arpaio’s detention officers had forced inmate Scott Norberg into a restraint chair and pushed his head into his chest after his arrest on suspicion of aggravated assault. Norberg’s 1996 death was ruled accidental by asphyxiation.
“This is, I think, the final Arpaio death case,” Manning said of Atencio’s suit, “and thus the end of an unnecessarily ugly Arpaio era.”
The former sheriff lost his bid for a seventh term to Paul Penzone in the 2016 general election. The 85-yearold lawman announced in January he was running for U.S. Senate.