Metro police settle airport arrest lawsuit

The Metropolitan Police Department will pay $15,000 to settle a civil rights case stemming from a 2007 arrest at McCarran International Airport.

“It was in the interest of both parties to resolve the matter,” attorney Brent Bryson said. “We questioned whether or not there could ever be a unanimous decision by a jury, given the particular facts and circumstances of this case.”

Bryson represents National Guard Sgt. Mark England, who sued two Las Vegas police officers after they forcibly arrested him.

After a trial in April, a federal jury cleared former officer Gary Clark of assaulting England. But the panel deadlocked on a battery claim against Clark and an excessive force claim against officer Jason Jennings.

“The settlement has resolved all appellate issues currently pending, and it was determined based on a cost-benefit analysis that the matter should not be tried again,” Bryson said.

England, a combat medic, lives in Arkansas.

“Part of the analysis was our client was incurring extreme financial hardship having to travel back and forth to Las Vegas,” Bryson said. “Also, the trial schedule was interfering with his deployment with his unit, and the whole matter was further complicated by the appellate process, which each party intended to proceed with.”

A settlement conference on Monday led to the resolution. Liesl Freedman, the Police Department’s general counsel, attended the conference and described the settlement as “strictly financial.”

“We didn’t want to pay any money, but when they came down so low — you know, you have to be realistic,” Freedman said.

She said the department agreed to pay $15,000 for “absolute certainty.” The settlement includes no admission of liability.

England’s arrest followed an argument with a Transportation Security Administration agent who refused to let him take his soda past the C Gate’s security checkpoint.

A surveillance camera recorded England’s arrest from a distance, and the video was played repeatedly for jurors during the trial.

Bryson told jurors the police officers delivered “an old-fashioned beat-down” to England before taking him into custody. But Craig Anderson, a lawyer for the defendants, argued that England escalated the conflict and resisted arrest.

Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710. Find her on Twitter: @CarriGeer.