BOARD: OFFICERS' ACTIONS IN COMPLIANCE WITH POLICIES
POLICE USED 'EXTRAORDINARY RESTRAINT' IN SUBDUING COMBATIVE MAN

Clearwater Police Department Patrol Officers who responded to a report of a man assaulting an elderly wheelchair-bound woman acted properly when subduing the combative, 365-pound man, a department Review Board concluded. Peter Gregory Nadir died of asphyxia during the course of his arrest on February 8, 2003, according to the Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner's Office.

After exhaustive investigations by both the Office of Professional Standards (Internal Affairs) and the Criminal Investigations Division, the five officers involved in the case were found to have acted within the scope of department policies and procedures. Indeed, the Review Board found that the officers – faced with a "deadly force" encounter with a man who had the upper hand in physical combat – chose to use "less lethal" measures to disarm and subdue him.

"Despite debilitating injuries and a situation that clearly warranted the use of deadly force to protect themselves, the officers used extraordinary restraint in defending themselves and subduing a man who fought them with an uncommon fury," Chief Sid Klein said.

Police were called to Nadir's 2823 Rampart Circle home at about 7:30 that Saturday morning by a neighbor who said the 31-year-old man had hit his 65-year-old mother and pushed her out of her wheelchair. When a female officer spoke to Nadir's mother, Barbara, the woman said her son had broken through a bedroom door, hit her and disabled the telephone when she tried to summon help. Mrs. Nadir also told the officer that her son was prescribed medication for a mental disorder.

Nadir's mother told the officer she thought her son might need to be hospitalized for observation under the state's Baker Act, and that she was willing to pursue criminal charges if necessary. While this discussion was transpiring, Nadir left the house, walked outside and down the street.

Nadir encountered another officer outside his home, but walked away from him. The officer speaking to Nadir's mother radioed the second officer that there was legal justification to arrest the man for Domestic Battery.

Shortly thereafter, the first officer joined Nadir and the second officer outside, and asked the man several questions pertinent to the investigation. According to more than a dozen witnesses (including neighbors and passersby), Nadir became violent and attacked the female officer, knocking her notepad to the ground and pulling from her belt a holstered collapsible steel baton that he used to beat her on her head, her face and her arms as she tried to defend herself.

When the second officer tried to disarm Nadir, the enraged man hit the officer several times on the head with the baton. After a violent struggle, the two officers were able to force Nadir to the ground and handcuff him, and when he continued to fight them, pepper spray was used – to no avail – in an attempt to subdue him.

An additional three officers arrived, and after a second application of pepper spray and a protracted physical struggle involving the three officers and Nadir, he was subdued. Moments later, Nadir became docile and appeared to stop breathing. The officers asked paramedics – who were already at the scene – to examine the man. He was treated and transported to Mease Countryside Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

A separate, independent investigation by the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office also found the officers "used reasonable force" in defending themselves against "aggravated batteries on law enforcement officers," and that the officers had "every reason to be justifiably in fear for their safety."

All the officers involved were placed on Administrative Leave in accordance with department policy at the on-set of the investigations into the circumstances that led to Nadir's death; they were cleared to return to duty within five days of the incident. However, one officer remains on Extended Leave as a result of the encounter with Nadir.

This is the extent of information available regarding the findings of this Review Board. For additional details, please contact Public Information Officer Wayne Shelor at (727)-562-4333.

/s/
SID KLEIN
Chief of Police