Clark County to host public review in inmate’s 2019 death
Clark County authorities will hold a public case review next week in the March 2019 death of a Wisconsin man who was restrained by Las Vegas corrections officers when he stopped breathing.
Nicholas Farah, 36, died at University Medical Center, and the Metropolitan Police Department confirmed after his March 31, 2019, death that Clark County Detention Center corrections officers had him restrained in the jail just before a medical staffer noticed Farah was no longer moving.
Nearly a year after Farah’s death, the Clark County district attorney’s office will present the case 9 a.m. Monday in commission chambers at the Clark County Government Center. The presentation will be streamed live on the county’s YouTube channel and aired on Clark County Television, Channel 4, the county announced.
Officers had placed Farah into a restraint chair and pushed his head to his knees for more than a minute as the officers exchanged his handcuffs, according to details provided at the time by Assistant Sheriff Charles Hank. After the officers lifted Farah to an upright position in the chair, a medical staffer saw Farah was not moving, police said.
The Clark County coroner’s office ruled Farah’s death a homicide; asphyxia during restraining procedures was the primary cause of his death.
The district attorney’s office previously determined none of the officers involved would be charged with crimes.
The review board is selected by Clark County Manager Yolanda King. Attorney Craig Drummond will preside over the board, attorney Carl Arnold will serve as the board’s ombudsman, and Chief Deputy District Attorney Pamela Weckerly will represent the district attorney’s office, according to a county news release.
The purpose of the review is to give members of the public more information about the use of force in this case, according to the news release. People who attend the case review will be able to submit written questions to Drummond.
There will be no formal determination about the manner or cause of death after the review, the release said.
Contact Dalton LaFerney at dlaferney@reviewjournal.com or at 702-383-0288. Follow @daltonlaferney on Twitter.
