Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Death in Custody

An appeals court in Texas dismissed claims against the city of Austin brought by the family of a man who shot himself in the head while handcuffed and seated in the backseat of a police patrol car. The family’s claims that a police officer’s failure to fasten the man’s seatbelt caused his death fail, because the death “was not proximately caused by the unfastened seatbelt.”

AUSTIN, Texas  — An appeals court in Texas dismissed claims against the city of Austin brought by the family of a man who shot himself in the head while handcuffed and seated in the backseat of a police patrol car. The family’s claims that a police officer’s failure to fasten the man’s seatbelt caused his death fail, because the death “was not proximately caused by the unfastened seatbelt.”

Categories / Civil Rights, Government

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...