Borough Settles In Taser Incident ; Insurance Company For Mount Joy Will Pay $900,000 To Family Of Man Who Died In 2010 Following Altercation With… [Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, PA)]

Borough Settles In Taser Incident ; Insurance Company For Mount Joy Will Pay $900,000 To Family Of Man Who Died In 2010 Following Altercation With Police.

BY K. SCOTT KREIDER

Correspondent

Mount Joy Borough Council on Monday approved a $900,000 settlement agreement for the family of a man who died in 2010 after attempts to subdue him included repeated discharges from a police officer's Taser.

The settlement will be paid to the family of Robert A. Neill Jr. by the borough's insurance carrier, according to borough officials.

The borough's insurance company, Travelers, recommended the settlement, according to a one-paragraph statement read by council President Chris Metzler.

A large group of residents attended the meeting to express support for maintaining the borough police force. During public comment, which lasted about 10 minutes, speakers urged council not to cut the number of borough police officers.

Mount Joy is facing a deficit of about $400,000 in its proposed 2013 budget.

Council adjourned the meeting to discuss personnel matters, and officials were not immediately available for comment Monday night.

According to newspaper records involving the Neill case, a harassment report from an apartment complex around 4 a.m. on Nov. 6, 2010, led police officers to 61-year-old Robert Neill.

According to a lawsuit filed on behalf of the family, Neill was shocked by the Taser - either by electrodes attached to pins and fired into his body or by the Taser being applied directly to his body.

The 15 Taser bursts that were delivered by former police Officer Tyson Woods lasted from two seconds to 28 seconds - 119 seconds total - during a 10-minute span, according to the suit.

Woods and another borough officer, Kyle Hosking, initially responded to the harassment report. State police and emergency medical personnel also responded.

Neill was taken by ambulance to Lancaster General Hospital, where he was declared dead.

Results of Neill's autopsy indicate he died of cardiac dysrhythmia, or abnormal heartbeat.

Neill's family initially sued police, the borough and Taser International in June, but they filed an amended suit Sept. 7 once they obtained Pennsylvania State Police investigative documents that shed more detail on the events.

The suit claims police used excessive force and failed to use or enforce appropriate-use-of-force policies, according to newspaper records.

Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni has said his office could not determine what caused the cardiac dysrhythmia. There was no alcohol or illicit drugs in Neill's system, according to a toxicology screening.

The lawsuit said Neill had a seizure disorder, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder - and that Neill's health issues were known to the police department.

The state attorney general's office investigated the case, but found "no evidence of any criminal conduct," an office spokesman said in November.

Mount Joy Mayor Mary Ginder notified Woods on April 2, 2012, that he was being fired for violating the police department's use-of- force policy.

Woods has filed a lawsuit seeking his job back. The suit, filed in May, contends the borough violated his due process rights.