Court records show Nassau County agrees to $700,000 in compensation for Walter Perez’s 2017 Taser death

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

County attorneys agreed to settle the case on June 12, immediately after one of the officers involved in the altercation that led to Walter Perez’s death testified during a federal trial in Central Islip. Officer Ray Moran admitted 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 device can be used under department protocols.

Thomas said Perez was electrocuted in the upper body during the Sept. 23, 2017, confrontation at his Inwood home, even though officers are trained not to fire Tasers to the abdomen or chest to avoid injury to vital organs. The officers who went 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 and for no more than 15 seconds.

“They have far exceeded these limits,” Thomas said.

Moran and three other officers involved in the initial confrontation with Perez – Nicole Bettes, Jack Castronova and Robert Sacco – were rookies and had been on the force for no more than 18 months.

Thomas said the county offered a $50,000 settlement before the trial began, but then offered $700,000 after U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Y. Shields took a 15-minute recess following Moran’s testimony.

“They reassessed the situation and contacted us about resolving the matter, which I was very 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 stated in a 44-page report released in February 2019 that the evidence did not justify criminal charges against the officers.

The attorney general’s report recommended additional training for Moran and the other officers involved and suggested Nassau police develop training programs for using multiple Tasers against one person and review methods for defusing incidents involving people experiencing mental health crises. Moran testified he received no additional training after Perez’s death.

Spokespeople 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 Nassau police spokeswoman declined comment, saying she could not discuss ongoing litigation. The settlement must still 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 lived in the United States for more than a decade, was 36 when he died. Police were called to Perez’s apartment shortly after 2 a.m. on the day of his death by his landlord, who called 911 to report that Perez had been drunk, singing, punching walls and acting aggressively toward 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 with a swollen right eye. Perez was aggressive, yelling at officers and holding his hands up in a fighting stance. Sacco went outside and called an ambulance, the report said. Officers tried — to no avail — to calm Perez down for about 10 minutes.

“I have something for you,” Perez told officers, according to the Attorney General’s report. He then retreated to his bedroom, which was dark. Officers feared he had gone into the bedroom to get a gun.

Perez did not have a weapon on him, but instead of de-escalating the situation, officers decided to handcuff Perez. He resisted and tried to hit Moran. Perez lunged at Moran, who deployed his Taser, striking Perez in the chest and abdomen, the Attorney General’s report states. According to the report, Moran activated his Taser seven times on Perez.

The taser seemed to have no effect and Perez pushed Moran into a closet.

Bettes also hit Perez six times in the chest and abdomen with her Taser. Officers managed to get Perez to the ground, but he continued to resist and bit an officer’s finger. He went into cardiac arrest and died later that night at a Queens hospital.

The New York City medical examiner concluded that Perez’s death was caused by “delirium resulting from acute cocaine intoxication following physical exertion involving restraints (e.g., handcuffs) and the use of an electrical weapon (e.g., a Taser),” the report said.

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

“After they got him under control and handcuffed him behind his back and also his legs, they put him on his stomach and applied pressure to his back and neck,” Thomas said. “And because he was so agitated from all the taser use and fighting with the police, they basically suffocated him. He couldn’t breathe.”