Department of Justice to investigate Eimers death after police stop

 

BY PRU SOWERS

 

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

 

The United States Department of Justice has agreed to investigate the death of Charles Eimers during a traffic stop arrest by Key West Police.

 

 

The Key West Civilian Review Board (CRB) voted unanimously on Dec. 17 to ask the federal agency to review the case, saying it was “dissatisfied” with the results of four separate state and local investigations that cleared all police officers of any wrongdoing in Eimers’ death. Eimers stopped breathing after he was handcuffed face down in the sand on Thanksgiving Day 2013. Police called paramedics when they realized he was not breathing, however, Eimers never regained consciousness. He was removed from life support at the Lower Keys Medical Center by his family a week later and he died shortly thereafter.

 

 

CRB Chairman Michael Behrend received a letter from Robert J. Moossy, Jr., Section Chief in the DOJ Criminal Section, on April 2. In the letter Moossy apologizes for the delay in responding to the CRB request and says his division is in the process of investigating the case.

 

 

“We have carefully reviewed the information which you furnished. Federal officials are currently investigating the matter. You can be assured that if the evidence shows there was a prosecutable violation of a federal criminal civil rights statute, appropriate action will be taken,” Moossy wrote in his letter.

 

 

Larry Beaver, CRB Executive Director, said it is “gratifying” the DOJ is looking into the case. CRB members agreed a year ago, shortly after Eimers’ death, to wait until other legal agencies had investigated the incident before rendering their own opinion. The CRB, an independent city board with the authority to review and/or investigate complaints involving Key West police officers, has watched while four separate reports were issued by the state Department of Law Enforcement, the Monroe County Medical Examiner, the Monroe County State Attorney and the Key West Police Internal Affairs Office. All the reports, including a grand jury investigation, found that police action during the routine traffic stop of Eimers and the subsequent slow-speed chase that ended with his arrest on South Beach did not contribute to his death.

 

 

“It’s a little early to say whether they [DOJ] are going to do a full scale investigation or not. We are hopeful,” Beaver said.

 

 

“We welcome the investigation and are cooperating fully,” said Key West Police Department Spokesperson Alyson Crean. “We’re confident that the investigation will support the findings of Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the State Attorney, the Grand Jury and our own internal affairs investigation that the officers did not use excessive force or cause the death of Mr. Eimers.”

 

 

The DOJ Criminal Section is responsible for enforcing federal criminal civil rights statutes. Moossy said much of his division’s enforcement activity relates to deprivations of civil rights under “color of law.

“These matters generally involve allegations of excessive physical force or sexual abuse by law enforcement officers,” he said.

 

 

The Monroe County Medical Examiner has ruled that Eimers died of a heart attack brought on by a poor health condition and he could have died at any time. But CRB members are not convinced, Beavers said in an earlier interview.

 

 

“They felt like those four [investigating] entities did not do a thorough enough job, especially when the second video came out,” Beavers said.

 

 

A video shot on a bystander’s camera was used as evidence in all four investigations and the grand jury hearing. That video was taken from a distance and did not show Eimers once police descended on him at South Beach. However, a second, closer video shot on another witnesses’ telephone camera casts doubt on police testimony that Eimers resisted arrest, Beavers said. And it shows that his ear is bleeding and his face has sand on it, again contradicting some of the testimony given by police.

 

 

Eimers family filed a civil lawsuit against the Key West Police Department in 2014. Key West City officials agreed in January to settle the case for $900,000 settlement in return for the family dropping the lawsuit against 13 police officers.

 

 

Crean said the settlement decision was made by the city’s insurance carrier, which would have had to pay any damages awarded to the family if a jury found police were responsible for Eimers’ death.

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