At nearly every public comment period at City Council meetings for the past several years there have been speakers about Marcus Deon Smith, who died on Sept. 8, 2018 after being restrained by Greensboro police officers.
At the June 15 City Council meeting, in a prepared statement, City Attorney Chuck Watts responded to some of the allegations frequently made by those speakers.
The parents of Marcus Smith, Mary and George Smith, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Greensboro, Guilford County and the individual city and county employees who were involved in the incident.
That lawsuit is the topic of many of the public comments and the statement by Watts addressed some of the concerns raised by speakers.
One of those accusations is that the city is refusing to release information to the public about the case. Watts said that the city is not releasing documents related to the lawsuit because there is a court order that prohibits such release. Watts said that the rules to release information disclosed in the discovery phase of the litigation were negotiated between the two parties, and the court approved those agreed upon rules in a “Protective Order” that prohibits the release of those documents until they are filed publicly with the court.
Watts said that the city had filed a motion with the court regarding the disclosure of discovery material by the plaintiffs and was waiting for the court to address the matter.
Watts also spoke about the constant demand from speakers at City Council meetings that the city settle the case.
Watts said, “The City has engaged in settlement discussions in good faith, but has not as of yet been able to reach an agreement.”
He also noted that the settlement discussions are confidential. Watts said, “Unfortunately, bits and pieces of those discussions have become public. I would caution anyone from thinking that these bits and pieces of information allow anyone not involved in these discussions to have any real understanding of the parties’ positions on what might be acceptable to resolve the case or what transpired during the mediation process.”
Mr. Smith was high on drugs. There no one to blame but Mr. Smith himself. Stop blaming the police for people short comings.
THIS is called journalism.
Agreed. Meanwhile the #justiceformarcussmith crowd continues to show that they don’t understand basic legal jargon and instead get themselves “arrested” for chalk art. Seriously these people don’t understand what litigation means.
As usual the taxpayers pay off this guy’s family.
Sorry when most anybody dies , and Mr Smith is a sad tale. He died completely due to his own doings. People have reached out to him numerous times over the years including, according to her, Ms Kennedy . Then on this night, there are lots of documented other nights with Mr Smith, he again was high and this time running in traffic and away from several police officers who were trying to get him safely off the street and to help. Finally the only way to help him was to grab him, constrain him and call EMT. His heart failed. As I started this story, sad ending to anyone’s life. Now his parents (or should I say whatever attorney) now want the city to pay. Not one red cent!! And this “attorney” should have to pay all the fees that the city has already spent for this foolish lawsuit. Tired of all this! Time to stand up!
I agree with Mac. The attorney involved in this frivolous legal action should be made to repay the city along with these “family” members who brought the action. The city should not pay one penny and this needs to end.
The police were in a no win situation in this case if they had done nothing and he was hit in traffic it was the police’s fault they had to do their job and unfortunately things went bad. His family wants to blame everyone else but they knew his history so why had they not gotten him help. I’m really tired of how the media spins the story of these poor people who are said to be great citizens of the community supposedly hardworking but no job records multiple children by multiple women but pay no child support which means us hard working tax paying as hillary called us “Deplorables” have to support. Just look at Andrew brown no job multiple arrests driving an $80,000 car with no means of support trying to run over police it’s time for the blame game to end