Settlement for a young man with a mental illness who led police from 6 different agencies on a “low speed chase” similar to the O.J. Simpson case. He was well known to the police who identified him by name on the police radio during the “chase.” After disabling our client’s vehicle, the police broke the windows out of our client’s car, sprayed him with pepper spray, and dragged him from the vehicle. He was thrown face down in a ditch, and numerous officers subdued him. By the time he was in handcuffs, he had stopped breathing. He was, unfortunately, never revived. The defense claimed he died unexpectedly from “excited delirium syndrome;” we alleged this was a wrongful death due to positional asphyxiation; i.e., the officers on top of him did not allow him to breathe. On behalf of the family we filed an excessive force civil rights claim against all of the officers involved pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Section 1983. The case settled after numerous depositions and the hiring of police and medical experts to prove our case.