[News] Autistic teen dies after cops sit on him for 9 minutes, family claims in lawsuit

An autistic teenager died after being restrained by Sheriff’s deputies and his parents are suing the department, claiming they suffocated the kid to death.

 

The cops were called following a violent episode between the teen and his dad. Unfortunately, the cops who tried to restrain him ended up using too much force.

 

The teen, Eric Parsa, died on Jan. 19, 2020, following the incident in the parking lot of the Westgate Shopping Center in Metairie, about seven miles northwest of New Orleans.

 

Donna Lou and Daren Parsa, parents of the deceased, have now filed a lawsuit.

 

The lawsuit was filed Thursday, Jan 14, 2021, in U.S. District Court in New Orleans against the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and seven of its deputies

 

The lawsuit claims that on January 19, 2020, Eric and his family were leaving a laser tag facility at a shopping center, when for some reason he started attacking his dad in what his parents describe as a “meltdown” related to his condition.

 

Cops were called while Daren tried restraining Eric, and eventually, a few deputies arrived and handcuffed him while also shackling his feet. While this was going on, they were holding him in a face-down position on the parking lot pavement as he continued to squirm and struggle.

 

Eric’s parents allege one deputy placed all his body weight on their son in the face-down position for nearly 10 minutes, and that at one point another deputy reportedly put him into a chokehold, and never once moved him on his side so he could breathe properly.

 

The lawsuit claims it was only when Eric’s body went limp and he urinated himself that deputies turned him over, but it was too late.

 

Eric was taken to a hospital, where he went into cardiac arrest and died.

 

The family says the cops used unreasonable and excessive force that directly caused Eric’s death.

 

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office denounced the lawsuit, saying it contained malicious and false claims about the deputies who tried to help that day and that they will fight this in court, TMZ reports.