NLV may pay $350K to woman allegedly beaten by corrections officer

North Las Vegas is considering paying $350,000 to settle a lawsuit that alleged a corrections officer beat and injured an inmate at the city’s jail, breaking her arm.

Inmate Cherie Blackmon “suffered serious injuries to her head and face, left arm and shoulder, and her ribs, including a oblique fracture through the midshaft of her left humerus,” according to the federal complaint filed in December 2023.

The lawsuit, which alleges assault and negligence, named officer Jarrod Minor, unnamed colleagues of his, and the city.

The proposed settlement is up for a vote at Wednesday’s City Council meeting, according to an agenda item. The money would come from an insurance fund.

“After reviewing the facts of the case, attorneys in the city attorney’s office and the city’s outside counsel determined that settling the case was in the best interests of the city,” the agenda item said.

Furthermore, “In order to eliminate any potential risk of an adverse verdict and to save money on further defending this matter, it is recommended that the City Council approve the proposed settlement.”

Blackmon had gone to a Metropolitan Police Department substation in January 2022 to report a car crash, according to the lawsuit.

Blackmon, who had a pending warrant, was instead arrested and handed over to North Las Vegas police who jailed her at the city’s Community Correctional Center, the suit said.

The following day, Blackmon was in a holding cell awaiting to see a judge when she was involved with a “verbal argument” with Minor through a window, according to the lawsuit.

Minor ordered that Blackmon exit the cell walking backward with her hands behind her back, an instruction she complied with, the suit said.

That’s when Minor grabbed Blackmon by her wrists and the back of her head “and struck her face against the cell window/door/wall,” the lawsuit said. “Plaintiff’s face was repeatedly struck against the window/door/wall in the holding facility.”

The lawsuit alleged that Minor twisted Blackmon’s arm and pinned it behind her back as she complained that she was in pain.

But Minor “increased the application of force,” pushing up her arm until her upper arm broke, the suit said.

Minor “kept her in this position even after her arm shattered, and he continued to strike her in her ribs with his knee,” causing the officer to fall on top of the woman, the lawsuit said.

Blackmon was taken to a different cell and eventually transferred to a hospital where staff discovered the bone fracture.

In its own response to the lawsuit, the city acknowledged there was a quarrel and that Blackmon broke her arm while in custody, but denied the excessive force allegations.

The city had blamed Blackmon’s actions for her injuries, describing the incident an “unavoidable accident.”

“The Defendant officers’ use of force, if any, was reasonable and justified under the circumstances alleged and was perfected pursuant to the officers’ reasonable fear for their own safety and/or the safety of others,” the city said.

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.