Kenny Lazo of Bay Shore died of cardiac arrest following encounter with Suffolk police, medical examiner testifies

A former Suffolk County medical examiner testified Wednesday that a 25-year-old Bay Shore man at the center of a federal wrongful death lawsuit died of cardiac arrest after an altercation with police.

But under questioning from a lawyer for the police, Dr. Yvonne Milewski also said the wounds Kenny Lazo suffered from the altercation were “superficial” and initially appeared to require no more than Band-Aids or bandages.

She also indicated obesity was a factor in his death, which she classified as a “homicide,” meaning that another person contributed to his death.

It was the second day of testimony in a case that goes back 15 years, when Lazo died after the encounter with police on April 12, 2008. Lazo’s family is seeking $55 million in damages and $100 million in punitive damages in the long-delayed lawsuit.

The police contend they handled a traffic stop for suspected drug dealing appropriately, and that Lazo died of a heart attack they could not have known was coming. But lawyers for his family say police should have brought him to the hospital immediately after he was beaten alongside a local highway to subdue him.

Instead, he collapsed at a police precinct, and was declared dead by the time he arrived at Southside Hospital in Bay Shore.

Opening statements were made in the case on Tuesday.

Milewski, according to documents she signed and that were presented Wednesday, concluded that Lazo died due to “sudden cardiac death following exertion associated with prolonged physical altercation with multiple blunt impacts.”

Fred Brewington, an attorney for the family, led her through a detailed analysis of her autopsy report, which described multiple abrasions, lacerations, and bruises to Lazo’s body.

Lazo “died because his heart stopped,” Brewington said. “Something caused that” and he would not have died if the altercation never took place.

In testimony, police said they tackled Lazo when he tried to flee, and elbowed him and hit him with a flashlight when he tried to take an officer’s gun.

But under cross-examination from Marc Lindemann, an attorney for Suffolk County who is defending the police, Milweski also said Lazo’s wounds were superficial and that they did not need immediate attention in a hospital.

She listed as a contributing factor to his death “obesity.” Her report said he was 5-foot-6 and 238 pounds, though his family contended he was closer to 5-foot-10.

Milweski said Lazo had no broken bones or damaged organs or muscles when he died — no disease or internal trauma that explained his death.

Lazo was found unresponsive on the floor of a holding cell at the Third Precinct at approximately 9 p.m., an hour after the altercation near an entrance ramp for Southern State Parkway in Bay Shore. At 9:25 p.m., he was taken to Southside Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:45 p.m., Brewington has said.

Earlier Wednesday, police officer William Judge described a chaotic struggle to control Lazo, though Brewington tried to point out inconsistencies in his story.

During the altercation, Judge said he was just feet away from the busy highway, and another officer was in the road.

It was a “very difficult and dangerous situation,” he said. “I could physically feel the cars passing.”

At one point, Judge said, he bit Lazo on the buttocks because “we were losing him. Mr. Lazo was getting away.”

Brewington tried to paint a picture of a police department that failed to fully investigate the events of that night and expose alleged mistakes the officers made.

He got Judge to admit that police Internal Affairs never directly questioned him in person, though Judge said they communicated through written statements.

Brewington said that police regulations, which he showed on screens in the courtroom in Central Islip, require police to take arrested people to the hospital if they are injured.

Judge responded that he did not think Lazo’s injuries — bruises and scratches to the face — required immediate medical attention.

Brewington attacked an internal police department sent by then-Police Commissioner William Dormer that said police acted “professionally and humanely” in handling Lazo that night. The memo also said Lazo was offered water in the precinct, and drank it.

The trial continues in federal court in Central Islip on Thursday.