preventable….those were the words used to describe the death of twenty eight year-old Kyle Briones while in the custody of Ontario Police Department following a car accident. His family filed a Ontario wrongful death lawsuit against the city for their role in his death and have just been awarded $2.75 Million settlement.

The Daily Bulletin reports on the details of the Ontario police wrongful death case, “The attorneys said the officers forcibly took down Briones, used a taser against him, tethered his legs together and left him in a prone position for about six minutes. Medics were not allowed to treat Briones until he stopped breathing.”

Like many police wrongful death lawsuits, this case focused on the tactics and training (or often lack thereof) of the police officers that served to cause the death. Here, the Ontario PD’s training manual said very little about certain restraint positions and the impact they might have on an individuals ability to breathe and this failure to adequately train their officers can cause serious injuries and death. Wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits against police departments are common and hard fought cases that if successful, do result in large payouts like this. In this case, like many, medical experts and police practices experts were called used to provide expert opinions on cause and nature of death as well as best practices. When you sue a city or government agency there are two important things to note- the payouts can be large (so worth your time to give us a call) but the statute of limitations is very short (as little as six months).

While it might feel like a daunting process, filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the local police department or city is actually as easy as giving us a call or sending an email. Many families unnecsesarily delay hiring a lawyer in the wake of a death for various reasons but are always surprised at just how easy it is to hire Walch Law and get this important process underway. Here are some of the things we need to know as Ontario wrongful death lawyers:

• What’s your relationship to the deceased?
• What happened and when?
• What evidence do you have already?
• Assemble any doctor bills, funeral costs and other medical expenses
• Assemble any documentation related to loss of income, pain and suffering and other items showing the impact this death will have on your life doing forward
• Your recollection of what happened

Wrongful death lawsuits are very little work for you and a lot for us…and that’s exactly how it should be! You should be focusing on your own emotional recovery while we take on your financial and legal recovery.  To that end, we take all of our Ontario wrongful death cases on a contingency fee basis so that you are not paying us anything out of pocket until we get you paid. The sooner you call the better so get in touch with Walch Law today to discuss your Ontario wrongful death case immediately.