Nassau County agrees to $700,000 settlement in Walter Perez's Taser death in 2017, court papers show

Nassau County has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by the estate of a man who died in 2017 after police used a Taser on him 13 times for 66 seconds — far beyond the department’s protocols — for $700,000, according to court documents and the estate’s attorney.

Lawyers for the county agreed to settle the case on June 12, immediately after one of the officers involved in the confrontation that led to the death of Walter Perez testified during a federal trial in Central Islip. Officer Ray Moran acknowledged under cross-examination by estate attorney Peter S. Thomas that he did not know how many times he fired his Taser at Perez, or the maximum number of times the department’s protocols say the device can be used.

Thomas said Perez was shocked in the torso during the Sept. 23, 2017, confrontation at his Inwood home, even though officers are trained to avoid firing Tasers at the stomach or chest in order to prevent injury to vital organs. The officers who responded to Perez’s home that night, the attorney argued, did not know how to properly use their Tasers. Nassau police protocols prohibit officers from using their Tasers no more than three times, for no more than 15 seconds.

“They far exceeded those limits,” Thomas said.

Moran and three other officers involved in the initial struggle with Perez — Nicole Bettes, Jack Castronova and Robert Sacco — were rookies with 18 months or less on the job.

Thomas said the county offered to settle the case for $50,000 before it went to trial, but then offered $700,000 after U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Y. Shields called a 15-minute break following Moran’s testimony.

“They reassessed and approached us about resolving this matter, which I was really happy to do,” Thomas said. 

The lawsuit, filed in September 2018, names Nassau County, the police department and unidentified officers as defendants. New York State Attorney General Letitia James’ office investigated Perez’s death and said in a 44-page report released in February 2019 the evidence did not warrant criminal charges against the officers.

The AG’s report did recommend additional training for Moran and the other officers involved, and suggested Nassau police develop training programs on using multiple Tasers against a subject and review methods to defuse incidents in people suffering from mental health crises. Moran testified he received no additional training after Perez’s death.

Spokesmen for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and the Nassau Police Benevolent Association, the union that represents officers, did not respond to requests for comment.

A spokeswoman for Nassau police declined to comment, saying she could not discuss ongoing litigation. The settlement still has to be approved by the Nassau County Legislature’s Rules Committee, which has not yet scheduled a vote on the agreement.

Perez, an immigrant from Guatemala who had been in the United States for more than a decade, was 36 years old when he died. Police were called to his apartment shortly after 2 a.m. the day he died by Perez’s landlord, who called 911 to report that Perez was intoxicated, singing, banging on walls and acting belligerent to other residents, according to the attorney general's report.

When Moran, Bettes, Castronova and Sacco arrived at the apartment, they found Perez naked, sweating and bleeding from a swollen right eye. Perez was aggressive, yelling at the officers and holding his hands up in a fighting stance. Sacco stepped outside and called an ambulance, the report said. The officers attempted — without luck — to calm Perez down for about 10 minutes.

“I have something for you,” the attorney general’s report said Perez told the officers. Perez then retreated into his bedroom, which was dark. The officers feared he had gone into the bedroom to get a weapon.

Perez did not have a weapon, but rather than de-escalate the situation, the officers decided to handcuff Perez, who resisted, attempting to punch Moran. Perez lunged at Moran, who deployed his Taser, striking Perez in the chest and abdomen, the attorney general's report said. The report said Moran activated his Taser against Perez seven times.

The Taser did not seem to have any effect, and Perez pushed Moran in a closet.

Bettes also hit Perez six times in the chest and abdomen with her Taser. The officers were able to bring Perez to the ground but he continued resisting, biting the finger of one officer. He went into cardiac arrest and died later that night at a hospital in Queens.

 The New York City medical examiner determined that Perez’s death was caused by “excited delirium due to acute cocaine intoxication following physical exertion with restraint (i.e., handcuffs) and use of a conducted electrical weapon (i.e., a Taser),” the report said.

Thomas said Perez may not have died if the officers had simply turned the restrained Perez on his side.

“After they were able to get control of him and they cuffed him behind his back, and they also shackled his legs, they laid him on his stomach and put pressure on his back and on his neck,” Thomas said. “And therefore, because he was in such an excited state for being tased so many times, and struggling with the police, they in effect asphyxiated him. He couldn’t breathe.”