Suit over Tenn. death settled

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- A Cape Girardeau woman whose son suffocated during an arrest when four police officers held him face-down on the ground will teach Chattanooga police recruits about his death as part of a settlement in an excessive force lawsuit.

Loretta Prater, a Southeast Missouri State University administrator, will teach three classes at the Chattanooga police academy about the death of her 37-year-old son, Leslie Vaughn Prater, said Sgt. Tom Layne Wednesday.

She said her sessions with police recruits would give them a "sense of how important their role is when they are out there on the street."

Police said the death of Leslie Prater was an accident, and no one was charged.

Layne said officers were called Jan. 2, 2004, when Leslie Prater was running naked on a downtown street after leaving his clothing in his parked car. He resisted being taken into custody and was wrestled to the ground.

It is unknown what Prater was doing right before the incident, but Phillip A. Noblett, attorney for the city and police, said Wednesday an autopsy report indicated a blood alcohol level over the legal limit for driving and cocaine in Prater's system.

A medical examiner's report said Prater died from "positional asphyxia" with contributing factors of acute alcohol and cocaine intoxication, a heart condition and mild obesity. The report describes Prater's death as a homicide.

The 5-foot, 11-inch, 232-pound Prater suffered fractured ribs, a dislocated shoulder joint with a fracture and multiple abrasions in the arrest, according to the report.

Loretta Prater's suit charged police "covered up the truth" about his death, something Noblett contests.

"I don't believe this was the case at all as officers called an ambulance immediately," he said.

The settlement also includes a $1.5 million damage payment by the city and an independent audit of the police department's internal affairs division that concluded there was no wrongdoing in the fatal arrest.

Leslie Prater's mother said money was not the goal of the suit.

"That isn't what would have made a change," she said. "This is wrong. Everyone should have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. This street justice, or street injustice, has got to stop."

Both Noblett and Layne said the city has never experienced such an attempted arrest.

"This was very unusual," Layne said, adding that having Tasers might have helped.

"I'm not saying the outcome would have been different. I don't know that."

Chattanooga police now have Tasers at their disposal, he said.

City council members agreed to the settlement Oct. 23, Noblett said, in part to avoid a federal civil rights trial that posed the prospect of the city paying legal costs for 17 officers named as defendants and expert witnesses.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.