VENTURA : Sheriff, CHP Sued in Restraint Case

The relatives of a man who died of a drug overdose while being restrained by law enforcement officers have sued the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department and the California Highway Patrol.

The officers are also named in the wrongful death suit, which alleges that they battered and assaulted Victor Nelson Leith of Oxnard. Leith died April 14, 1990, of an overdose of methamphetamine, authorities said.

The suit, filed in Ventura County Superior Court, also accuses the officers and their supervisors of negligence for allegedly placing Leith face down with arms and legs restrained behind his back, knowing that the procedure would interfere with his breathing.

Leith had been found by CHP officers along the Santa Paula Freeway east of Briggs Road after he left his car when it crashed into the highway median, authorities said. The crash occurred after Leith’s stepson became alarmed by Leith’s erratic driving, turned off the car’s ignition and steered the car toward the center divider, authorities said.

Officers and passersby initially talked Leith into sitting on the guardrail, but he jumped up and dove toward the traffic lanes. A CHP officer restrained him, authorities said. Sheriff’s deputies had also responded to the scene.

Leith then went into cardiac arrest and resuscitation was begun, authorities said. Leith was pronounced dead about an hour later.

The agencies were cleared of wrongdoing earlier this month by the district attorney’s office. However, the offices of the district attorney and the coroner urged all agencies in the county to reconsider the manner in which they restrain suspects.

The coroner’s office believes that restraints might have contributed to Leith’s death and that of another man who had taken drugs, authorities said.

Assistant Coroner Craig Halloran said suffocation due to the positions of the bodies might have contributed to the deaths.