The parents of a man who died while in custody in Shenandoah in November 2004 should have the chance to prove their allegation that police killed him, a federal judge ruled on Thursday.
In a 48-page report, U.S. Magistrate Judge Martin C. Carlson recommended that, with two exceptions, Carlos J. Vega and Genevieve F. Victor, parents of David L. Vega, be allowed to take their lawsuit to trial against the borough and its former top two police officers.
Carlson ruled David Vega's parents have presented enough evidence to allow a jury to conclude that the borough, former police Chief Matthew R. Nestor and former police Capt. Jamie Gennarini are responsible for their son's death on Nov. 28, 2004, in a holding cell.
"The circumstances of his sudden death are grim factual controversies for which the defendants cannot be absolved by this court as a matter of law," Carlson wrote.
If U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III, who is presiding over the case, accepts Carlson's report, as usually occurs, he will be able to schedule a starting date for the trial of a case involving a police department that has been enmeshed in controversy for several years.
Carlos Vega and Victor filed the lawsuit on Nov. 26, 2006, seeking unspecified monetary damages against the borough and its ex-officers, alleging police killed Vega and conspired to make his death look like a suicide, as ruled by then-county Coroner David J. Dutcavich.
No criminal charges were filed against either Gennarini or Nestor as a result of the incident.
Lawyers for Nestor, Gennarini and the borough asked that the lawsuit be dismissed, alleging the parents did not produce sufficient evidence to support their claims but, with two exceptions, Carlson ruled against them.
Carlson wrote in considering the case at this stage, he must evaluate the evidence favorably to the parents, accepting all their factual assertions to be true.
"At this juncture, it is emphatically not the role of this court to endeavor to ultimately resolve these evidentiary disputes," Carlson wrote.
Evidence offered by the parents, including reports from two forensic pathologists, could enable a jury to conclude that police beat David Vega and concealed that fact, and that Gennarini had done the same thing on other occasions, Carlson wrote.
Additionally, there is enough evidence, if believed by a jury, to conclude that Nestor can be held liable as Gennarini's supervisor. That evidence could include statements Nestor allegedly made to his ex-girlfriend, Angela Pleva, that he and Gennarini killed David Vega, according to Carlson.
Finally, Carlson ruled there is sufficient evidence to allow Carlos Vega and Victor to claim that the borough was deliberately indifferent to David Vega's rights by not providing proper training to the police.
Carlson emphasized that the plaintiffs' allegations are not the only possible interpretations of the facts, and he stressed that a fact-finder could reach different conclusions.
"The truth behind what transpired ... must be resolved by a jury as contested questions of fact," Carlson wrote.
Carlson did recommend that the claims for damages against the borough, Nestor and Gennarini under the Pennsylvania Constitution be dismissed, since such claims have not been recognized as a matter of law, and that the allegations of false arrest be dismissed, since any view of the evidence shows that police had probable cause to arrest David Vega on Nov. 28, 2004.
"(David) Vega presented to police as someone who was publicly under the influence of alcohol, as someone who had been involved in a physical altercation with others, and as someone whose behavior was publicly disruptive," Carlson wrote. "There was probable cause to arrest Vega for the offenses of public drunkenness, disorderly conduct and simple assault."
Nestor is serving a federal prison sentence of 13 months for his conviction in January of obstructing the investigation of the fatal beating of illegal Mexican immigrant Luis Eduardo Ramirez Zavala on July 12, 2008, of West Lloyd Street in Shenandoah. He and Gennarini were acquitted this year in another federal trial of civil rights violations and other charges in an unrelated case.