Review Board still waiting for FBI ruling on Eimers investigation

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

 

The Key West Citizens Review Board is still waiting to hear whether the FBI will conduct an investigation into the Charles Eimers case.

 

The CRB sent a letter to the FBI on Jan. 27 – two days before the city announced a $900,000 settlement with the Eimers family – asking it to open an investigation into the case. Eimers stopped breathing during an arrest by Key West Police on Thanksgiving Day 2013. He never regained consciousness and died a week later when his family removed him from life support.

 

“The CRB strongly urges the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate whether federal law was violated by officers of the Key West Police Department on November 28, 2013, when Charles Eimers was detained, hospitalized and died,” the letter written by CRB attorney Robert Cintron said.

 

Larry Beaver, CRB executive director, said Feb. 12 that the review board is still waiting to hear from the FBI.

 

“I would think we would hear from them in 30 days,” he said, adding that the FBI received the CRB’s letter on Jan. 28.

 

Four local and regional law enforcement agencies investigated the Eimers case and all concluded that police officers had not contributed to the 61-year-old’s death. The Key West medical examiner ruled death was accidental, caused by a previous heart condition.

 

However, Beaver said all of the investigations were concluded before a second video of the arrest shot by a bystander came to light. Although the initial police report referred to the second video, which showed sand and blood on Eimers’ face after he was arrested face down on South Beach, that video was not introduced as evidence until the Eimers Family attorney contacted the person who recorded the video. The video then became part of the evidence in the Eimers’ civil lawsuit against the city.

 

“This [second video] looks to us that it contradicts some of the testimony given to us by the officers,” Beaver said. “We don’t know exactly what’s going on with this. Because of that, we feel someone should look at this again and make sure there is no perjury on the part of any officers in their testimony.”

 

Key West Police Chief Doni Lee has long said that the officers acted appropriately during the slow chase of Eimers around the island. According to his statement when the $900,000 settlement was announced, Lee did not approve of the settlement, which he said “was a business decision made by insurance carrier.”

 

“The Key West Police Department welcomes the scrutiny,” said city spokesperson Alyson Crean about a possible FBI investigation.

 

Despite a grand jury absolving the 13 Key West Police officers of any criminal action during the arrest and death of Eimers, an internal police investigation released Dec. 8 disciplined two of the officers involved and called for review and possible modification of multiple departmental policies. The eight-page report written by Sgt. Joseph Tripp found several instances of officers not following standard police procedure during the Thanksgiving Day incident. Officer Gary Lee Lovette was subsequently suspended without pay for five days for violating four police department procedures. Officer Henry del Valle was given a written reprimand for two violations.

 

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