SARATOGA SPRINGS – The wrongful death lawsuit filed by Darryl Mount’s mother Patty Jackson against the officers involved in his case and the city of Saratoga Springs is scheduled to head to trial in October if a judge does not rule on behalf of the city to dismiss the case, according to Jackson’s attorney.
“They moved to dismiss on the basis that they claim there’s no issue of fact to go before a jury,” said Brian Breedlove, Jackson’s attorney.
Breedlove said he’s not sure when the judge will rule on the motion to dismiss. The case is being overseen by Schenectady County Supreme Court Judge Thomas Buchanan.
If the case is not dismissed, the trial could go for three weeks, according to court documents.
Breedlove declined to provide additional comments regarding the case.
“I don’t make comments on the case,” he said.
The lawsuit filed in 2014 by Jackson alleges that the police department violated her son’s 4th, 5th, 6th and 14th Amendment rights on Aug. 31, 2013, when police officers chased Mount and falsely arrested him “without warrant or probable cause.”
The lawsuit alleges that Mount, a 22-year-old bi-racial man, was also the subject of racial profiling.
The lawsuit is filed against the city, then-Public Safety Commissioner Chris Mathiesen, then-Police Chief Gregory Veitch, then-officers Frederick Warfield, Tyler McIntosh, John Bateholts and Adam French, as well as then-sergeant Aaron Benware and then-investigator James Bell.
Court documents filed by Jackson’s attorneys also alleges that Mount’s death is not due to falling from scaffolding as indicated by police but the result of being beaten and excessive force used by officers.
Mount died in 2014 from respiratory failure “due to the pneumonia due to immobilization as a result of the severe brain injuries which were a direct and proximate result of the blunt force trauma sustained on August 31, 2013,” the lawsuit states.
One of the officers named in the lawsuit, McIntosh, was just announced as the next chief of the department.
Public Safety Commissioner James Montagnino has said based on his 37-page review of the incident it showed McIntosh “acting entirely appropriately and did exactly what he was trained to do and required to do under the circumstances.”
Saratoga Black Lives Matter founder Lexis Figuereo has called McIntosh’s appointment a slap in the face to the Mount family.
Reporter Shenandoah Briere can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @ByBriere.
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