A federal civil jury awarded the teenage son of a man who died in 2016 while in Dallas Police custody $1 million in damages for violating his father's constitutional rights.
Timpa was 32 when he died on Aug. 10, 2016, while in the custody of Dallas police officers. He called 911 operators in a panic and asked for help, saying he was off his medication for anxiety and schizophrenia.
Within about 20 minutes of police arriving, Timpa became unresponsive and died.
After the city and county of Dallas blocked the release of public records related to Timpa's death, body camera video released by the police department to NBC 5 and The Dallas Morning News showed Timpa restrained in handcuffs and police officers mocking him as he pleaded for help dozens of times.
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The civil jury was to decide whether Dallas Police Officer Dustin Dillard used excessive force and violated Timpa’s constitutional rights when he knelt on his back for more than 14 minutes and whether three other officers, Kevin Mansell, Raymond Dominguez and Danny Vasquez, failed to intervene.
The jury in the civil trial said Wednesday that Vasquez and Dominguez also violated Timpa's constitutional rights, though Mansell did not.
The jury also said all of the officers, except for Dominguez, were protected by "qualified immunity," a shield that protects government officials from lawsuits in civil rights cases. A federal appeals court ruled in January that "qualified immunity" should not protect the officers from potential liability however U.S. District Judge David Godbey told the federal jury to consider it when coming to a decision.
Geoff Henley, the Timpa family's attorney, said after the verdict was read that they were glad Timpa's son was awarded damages but found it curious that the rest of the family was overlooked.
"I think it's perplexing, you know, obviously we're grateful that an award was given to … the boy," said Henley. "But I do think that Joe and Vicky Timpa and the estate of Tony Timpa certainly merited a substantial sum greater than nothing. Their boy was killed on camera, a constitutional violation occurred, so I would think that that would be compensable."
Henley said he did not feel the jury's verdict would alter police policy or behavior.
"Unfortunately, it was a victory for qualified immunity and prone restraint," Henley said. "I don't think that the Dallas police department and a lot of department's nationwide are going to be adequately deterred by what took place. The way people change their behavior is by hitting them in their pocketbook."
The Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office ruled Timpa's death a homicide due to the effects of cocaine and being restrained and a Dallas County grand jury indicted three of the officers on misdemeanor charges of deadly conduct. Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot, however, dropped those charges in 2019 and declined to prosecute the case.
According to our partners at The Dallas Morning News, the lawsuit sought more than $300 million for Timpa's family, including his 15-year-old son.
Three of the officers, Dillard, Vasquez and Dominguez, remain employed with DPD. Mansell retired.
A city spokesperson and the Dallas police department told NBC5 they had no comment on the verdict.
