City settles lawsuit over handcuffed man killed by police

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (AP) — West Valley City has settled a lawsuit filed by the family of a 31-year-old man police shot and killed while handcuffed inside a police station.

Susan Neese filed the lawsuit in September, saying her son, Michael Breinholt, was unnecessarily killed and that officers “threatened and antagonized” him before Sgt. Tyler Longman shot him, per reports.

West Valley City and Neese’s attorney confirmed Friday the lawsuit had been dismissed and was settled although the city refused to say how much money it agreed to pay to Neese. The amount of money government entities pay to settle a lawsuit is considered a public record, according to Utah law.

Breinholt was arrested on Aug. 23, 2019, after he showed up while intoxicated at the workplace of a woman he was dating, records show.

Body camera footage obtained by The Tribune shows the woman telling Officers Matt Lane and Taylor Atkin that Breinholt was possibly suicidal, had taken a lot of pills and his breath smelled of alcohol.

The officers arrested Breinholt on suspicion of DUI and took him to the police department for a more accurate Breathalyzer test. Longman came to help the officers fill out a warrant for a blood draw.

At one point, Breinholt fell from a chair to the floor — and officers left him there for more than 11 minutes before medics arrived to check on him, according to the footage.

The arresting officers, Atkin and Lane, didn’t tell the medics that Breinholt had taken pills or was suicidal, and the medics left.

Later, Breinholt asked Longman to be taken to a psychiatric hospital, but the sergeant refused.

The footage shows a situation that escalated quickly after Breinholt told officers he had a gun in his shoe. He didn’t, and the officers didn’t appear to take him seriously, but they tried to take his shoe. When they did, Breinholt — with his hands cuffed behind his back — put his hand on Atkin’s gun. Two officers wrestled with him, though the gun never leaves the holster, the footage shows.

Longman then rushed into the room, said, “You’re about to die, my friend,” and shot Breinholt in the head, video footage shows.

Longman also shot and killed a man in 2007 and another in 2008 and the district attorney found his actions to be legally justified in both cases. He wasn’t disciplined in those shootings.

Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill found the shooting legally justified but called it “disturbing” and said he believed the death could have been prevented.

Neese’s attorneys argued in the lawsuit that while Breinholt did have his hand either on an officer’s duty belt, gun holster or gun handle, it would have been impossible for him to pull out the gun and use it while handcuffed and reacting slowly due to intoxication.

West Valley City officials said last September that it was Breinholt’s actions — not their officers — that led to the shooting.

Longman is one of 38 Utah officers who have been involved in more than one police shooting in the past 17 years, according to a database maintained by the Tribune.