Spokane7
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July 27, 2010 in City
Lawsuit filed over jump from bridge
Attorneys have filed a $4.7 million federal civil suit against the Spokane Police Department and Spokane County Sheriff’s Department for their failed attempt to keep a mentally ill man from jumping off the Monroe Street Bridge while his father watched.
Breean Beggs, formerly of the Center for Justice, filed the suit in federal court Monday, one day short of the three-year anniversary of Joshua Levy’s fatal jump. The 28-year-old college student with paranoid schizophrenia was engaged in a standoff with police on July 26, 2007, that lasted into the next day.
Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick promised Levy’s family that officers wouldn’t use force, but that plan changed when an officer fired a Taser at Levy. When the probes missed, two officers rushed at him and he jumped, Beggs wrote in court records.
The suit also alleges that police and sheriff’s officials, who were spelling the city officers, did not seek advice from mental health officials before attempting to end the standoff.
“They decide to rush him,” Beggs said. “It’s almost guaranteed that he is going to jump.”
Levy’s father was there but was not told of the decision to try to secure Levy by force, Beggs said.
Couple acquitted of caging 2 boys 
crhys on July 27 at 8:42 a.m.
If the police department would have just left him alone, he would have just jumped sooner. Shame on you sue happy people. It’s not going to bring your son back! Maybe if he felt like he had a support system in the first place, he would have never thought about jumping to begin with.
mc on July 27 at 9:31 a.m.
Wow, crhys. Your sensitivity is astounding.
MrNatural on July 27 at 10:14 a.m.
I saw the incident unfold personally and it appeared the SPD had lost its patience with the situation. I realize this was very tragic for all but they bs’d Levy off the ledge while he was in a complete stupor and instead of using the progress they made to settle him down they made a p-poor attempt to taser and rush him. No one knows if he would have jumped anyway but from what I saw SPD was ill advised and bungled the situation seemingly out of frustration and on the face of it hastened Mr. Levy’s demise.
JayNW on July 27 at 12:48 p.m.
cops aren’t mental health professionals and should not be held accountable as such. They did what cops do.
to all of you who complain, how about actually doing something to change the process. Even after Otto Zehm, I bet none of you complainers have actually DONE anything to change the process of how the community deals w/ the mentally ill. Just keep sitting on your high horse griping and complaining about the cops.
tardwhisperer on July 27 at 1:09 p.m.
Certainly it was the cops’ fault…..it could not have been the fault of the family that took 28 years to screw him up. Surely the cops should have fixed him in less than 20 hours. And please…let’s disregard the other numerous attempts he made off bridges on the west side. Sounds like he finally found the right one…with rocks under it rather than the Puget Sound. HE made the choice to jump. No one did that for him. Maybe we should take advice from the demise of Mr. Levy….after all, he did find a way to fix stupid……..
Dazzeetrader11 on July 27 at 6:03 p.m.
Uh…no tard. Organic brain disease has structural components seen on high power microscopy. While certainly a family problem and can be aggravated by family behavior or management, families don’t cause the anatomic changes.
This man was in trouble for an awful long time .. Again though, this is a very unpredictable disease. Quiet for long periods but just out of control with confused thinking at other times.
Sometimes there is no fault. Bad diseases causes bad consequences…..nobody can fix it properly. Centainly not police and only sometimes for the professional counsellors.
But jeeeeeeeeeeez crhs….whatta wild post. Not why we have clinics and hospitals…
Spokane_Citizen on July 27 at 7:08 p.m.
Finally, Daisy….you and I have something we agree about….sometimes malfunctioning biology trumps even the best family environment.
lewis8457 on July 28 at 8:22 a.m.
there are some real low life’s on here.
paranoid schizophrenia isn’t something a person catches from bad parenting it is a mental illness.
I can assure you Tard and Jay if i ever see you on the rail I will wait until the cops taser you a few times, before chanting jump, jump. jump!
lewis8457 on July 28 at 8:24 a.m.
he had a support system they dropped the ball. But of course that is his fault right?
crhys on July 28 at 9:08 a.m.
The fact is, he wanted to jump off the bridge and he carried out his plan. Now the City of Spokane has to spend money on a lawsuit, because the police department did not prevent him from doing what was ultimately HIS CHOICE. I do have compassion for his illness, but believe he is in a much better place not having to deal with it in our society. I think we all need to walk a mile in someone’s shoes before we criticize them. I just get so tired of everything being blamed on the police department, and the city and taxpayers having to suffer because of it.
tardwhisperer on July 28 at 9:38 a.m.
Well put Daisy and crhys……exactly the point….
maketheworldabetterplacetoday on July 28 at 9:49 a.m.
Let’s all got off our rearend and act. volunteer. educate ourselves. We may not all have money to donate but we have time and resources. I know a lot of good people. I know a lot of people who think they’re good just because they go to church. and none of them volunteer or donate money. 1 person may not make a big difference but if we all care about everyone but ourselves on the same day and continue our caring and act instead of talk we can change the world! Mentally ill need us. neglected, abused, hungry, uneducated children need us. abused men and women need us. uneducated adults need us. racist people need us to de-stupidfy themselves. I make 9.50 an hour , have 2 young kids and manage to donate and volunteer regularly. i always call for help when i see someone in trouble. i called 911 yesterday because i saw man standing on bridge looking at pavement. of the other hundreds of cars driving by no one else called. need some help my fellow people.