CHEYENNE — Police groups from Colorado and Oklahoma are seeking to join the state of Wyoming in asking a federal appeals court to reconsider whether relatives of a man who died during a struggle with Wyoming Highway Patrol officers in 2002 may sue the state.
In a split ruling, a three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled in October that the relatives and estate of Bruce James Weigel could proceed with their lawsuit against Wyoming.
The panel’s ruling overturned an earlier decision by U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson of Wyoming, who ruled that the state troopers and other state officials were immune from suit.
Johnson ruled that the state defendants were immune because there was no proof the troopers’ conduct was unreasonable under existing law. The Wyoming attorney general’s office has asked the full appeals court to reconsider the panel’s decision reversing Johnson’s ruling.
Weigel was 42 at the time of his death, according to a lawyer representing his family. The lawyer said Weigel lived near Denver and worked as a technician for Lockheed-Martin. He was divorced and had two teen sons.
Weigel’s relatives claim in their lawsuit that Wyoming troopers John K. Broad and Devan Henderson used excessive force in subduing Weigel after a traffic accident. Their lawsuit also claims that the state failed to train the troopers properly.
According to court records, Weigel drove his car into Broad’s patrol car on the morning of Dec. 20, 2002, on Interstate 25 south of Cheyenne. Weigel then got out of his car and walked into a traffic lane, where he was hit in the chest by a mirror on a passing van.
The troopers tackled Weigel when he continued to try to cross the highway, court records said. Weigel struggled with the troopers, tried to grab the troopers’ weapons and resisted being handcuffed, the ruling states.
A passing motorist helped the officers subdue Weigel by pinning his legs down, and his legs were eventually tied together, according to court records. Weigel continued struggling, even though he was handcuffed face-down on the ground, and Broad used his knees and hands to apply pressure to Weigel’s upper body for a few minutes, according to court records. Weigel then went into cardiac arrest and died, the records stated.
An autopsy found that Weigel died of “mechanical asphyxiation,” meaning that he wasn’t able to breathe because of the weight on his back.
Police and government groups from around Colorado have filed papers asking the appeals court to allow it to argue in the case on Wyoming’s behalf. The Oklahoma Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training has filed a similar request.
Lawyers for the Weigel interests have opposed Wyoming’s request for the full appeals court to hear the case.
