Family of slain New Orleans police officer files lawsuit against Taser
New Orleans LA October 18 2018
On Oct. 13, 2017, NOPD Officer Marcus “Milk Dud” McNeill attempted to apprehend Darren Bridges while on patrol in New Orleans East. The two began fighting, prompting McNeill to fire his stun gun. He struck Bridges, but the weapon “appeared ineffective,” according to a warrant for Bridges arrest.
Bridges allegedly then shot McNeill several times. He died at the scene.
A year after the 3-year NOPD veteran and father of two was laid to rest, his family is seeking to hold the manufacturer of the stun gun accountable.
The accused shooter was also struck by gunfire and was being treated at a hospital.
His relatives argue that both his alleged killer, Darren Bridges, and Axon Enterprise — the maker of Taser stun guns — are liable of the McNeill’s wrongful death, according to documents filed in Orleans Parish Civil District Court on Thursday (Oct. 11). The suit seeks more than $75,000 in damages.
Bridges, meanwhile, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and seven other felony charges connected to the shooting, including aggravated assault with a firearm on a police officer, being a felon in possession of a firearm and several drug charges. The District Attorney’s office decided it will not pursue the death penalty in the case on Wednesday (Oct. 10).
Darren Bridges is accused of fatally shooting NOPD Officer Marcus McNeil in New Orleans East on Oct. 13, 2017.
The 16-page lawsuit outlines how Axon marketed the stun gun as an effective, non-lethal method of disarming and subduing assailants. However, in the years following the release of the first electronic weapon, Taser struggled to design a product that was powerful enough to detain, but not kill an assailant.
According to the lawsuit, early models did not stop a determined assailant from fighting back after being struck. Members of the Czechoslovakian police force volunteered to test out the stun guns and proved that its currents were painful, but did not necessarily incapacitate them. Taser responded by boosting the strength of subsequent models. According to the lawsuit, this change resulted in more assailant deaths, which prompted civil lawsuits and government scrutiny.
McNeil tussled with his accused killer and fired his stun gun before he was fatally shot.
The company now known as Taser responded by dialing back the strength once again. The lawsuit says the move shifted the “focus from ‘stopping power’ to ‘stopping lawsuits.'”
In 2014, the New Orleans Police Department signed a five-year contract with Axon in a move to emphasize nonlethal forms of force. On the day of his death, McNeil relied on one of the manufacturer’s watered-down stun guns to detain his assailant and protect his own life, according to the lawsuit.
“This was very tragic. McNeil was following protocol and a device issued to him to do his job failed him. It ended his life and changed everybody else’s,” attorney Joseph Rich told NOLA.com | Times-Picayune. Rich is representing the McNeil family with former City Councilman James Carter.
Plaintiffs listed are McNeil’s widow, Brittiny Hubbard McNeil; their two daughters, Maisie and Camille McNeil; McNeil’s son, Jax McNeil; and the boy’s mother, Jene Bowens.
The lawsuit contends that Axon and Bridges owe McNeil’s family compensation for the loss of love and affection, loss of wages, mental pain and suffering and funeral expenses suffered as a result of McNeil’s death.
The case was allotted to Civil District Court Judge Christopher Bruno.
Axon Enterprise did not respond to requests for comment on the case.
“If the Taser had worked like they had intended it to work, then McNeil would still be here,” Carter said.
McNeil was a New Orleans native, born at Charity Hospital and a student at St. Augustine High School, where he played tuba in the “Marching 100.”
Friends and fellow officers described him as a man with a “legendary” grin, who gushed with pride for his high school alma mater and chose service in the NOPD despite having an accounting degree from Dillard University that could have landed him on any number of corporate career tracks. He joined the NOPD in 2014.
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