A diabetic who was suffering from insulin shock when Nevada police officers mistook him for a drunk driver and physically assaulted him will receive a settlement of nearly $300,000.
Adam Greene, 38, settled his lawsuit against the city of Henderson and the state of Nevada on Tuesday night. Under the settlement, Greene will receive $158,000 from the city and $35,000 from the state. His wife will receive an additional $99,000 from the city.
The payout settles a federal civil rights lawsuit that Greene filed against Henderson city police and the Nevada Highway Patrol, accusing them of battery, assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
"We think it's fair. We agreed to it, and we're satisfied," Greene told KTNV about the settlement.
The lawsuit stemmed from a Oct. 29, 2010, traffic stop, portions of which were captured by dashboard cameras mounted in four Nevada Highway Patrol cruisers. Those videos were released Wednesday.
Greene is observed on video swerving in the eastbound lane of the Lake Mead Parkway. When he stops at a traffic light at the Boulder Highway intersection, he is approached by a trooper, who draws his service weapon, kicks the driver's side window and yells, "Don't move! Hey, driver, do not move!"
When the trooper opens the car door, another officer moves in and places a handcuff on one of Greene's wrists. At that point, the state troopers, with assistance from Henderson police officers, pull Greene from his vehicle. The four-door sedan rolls forward until an officer stops it.
Five officers force a dazed and confused Greene to the ground. A sixth officer, from the Henderson police department, then walks over and kicks Greene in the face multiple times, as one of the officers yells, "Stop resisting, motherf***er. Stop resisting, motherf***er!" Another officer repeatedly knees him in the torso.
Once Greene is subdued, an officer finds a vial of insulin on him and announces Greene "could be a diabetic."
Moments later, an officer can be heard talking on the radio to a police dispatcher: "He's a diabetic. He's probably in shock, semiconscious."
Other officers are heard joking about the incident. "[He] was not a small guy," an officer laughs. "I couldn't take him by myself."
Greene was not charged in connection with the traffic stop. At a local hospital, he was treated for low blood sugar and multiple injuries that he said he received during the traffic stop.
"I ended up with two broken ribs. I had some cuts and a black eye on my face," Greene told KTNV. "I was confused, but I wasn't resisting, and I would think this would be incorrect and inappropriate behavior whether I was drunk ... or not drunk."
Greene told the Las Vegas Sun that he was on his way to work when he had the diabetic reaction. He said he is a father of four and has been a diabetic for 26 years.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a Henderson police sergeant involved in the traffic stop was disciplined but remains employed by the department. Nevada's Fox 5 News has identified four of the Henderson police officers involved in the case as Douglas Lynaugh, Francis Shipp, Seth Vanbeveren and Brett Seekatz.
Despite the ordeal he has been through, Greene, whose father was an Arizona state trooper, said his family does not hold a grudge. "We hold no ill will towards the officers involved or the other police officers in the city, and we support them and we're ready to move on," Greene told 8newsnow.com.
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