OAKLAND — The city of Hayward is attempting to prohibit a civil rights attorney from speaking to the press about a 2015 incident when a 42-year-old man when unresponsive and died while police officers were sitting on top of him.
The attorney, Melissa Nold, works for the law office of prominent civil rights attorney John Burris, who is known for handling officer-involved death lawsuits. Nold is the lead attorney in a lawsuit over the death of 42-year-old Roy Nelson Jr., filed two years ago by Nelson’s son.
In a 36-page motion for a protective order limiting Nold’s ability to speak to reporters, Hayward city attorney Joseph Brick referenced statements Nold made to Bay Area News Group and a KTVU reporter, including her statement that video footage of Nelson’s death was, “easily one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever seen on video” and comparing it to the infamous death of Eric Garner at the hands of NYPD officers.
“With a mere four months before trial, (Nelson’s) attorneys have made several extrajudicial statements to the media in an attempt to improperly prejudice the jury pool and try this case in the court of public opinion,” the motion reads, noting that a jury wouldn’t be allowed to hear her opinions or conclusions about Nelson’s death.
Contacted about the motion, Nold said her office is preparing a response. She said she made statements to reporters not to influence potential jurors but to “clarify inaccurate statements” by city officials about Nelson’s death, citing police statements that said he went unresponsive while being detained and made no mention of the officers being on top of him.
“Attorneys are entitled to First Amendment rights,” Nold said.
In any civil or criminal trial, potential jurors are polled about any biases they might have related to media coverage of the case.
The city of Hayward’s motion asks attorneys at Burris’ office, including Nold, be required to “immediately cease” making statements about the case to the media. It also accuses Nold of releasing “confidential” court records, referring to the videos that were made part of the public records when attorneys included them as exhibits to pretrial motions.
In December 2015, Nelson went unresponsive while several Hayward officers were attempting to put him in a restraint device. Publicly released video footage shows several officers on top of Nelson, who whimpers and says he can’t breath before going unconscious. He died later that night, and a county forensic pathologist cited physical exertion combined with methamphetamine intoxication as causes, according to court records.
The officers had originally been called to the scene to a report that Nelson was going through a mental health crisis and needed to be placed in a psychiatric hold. On the way to the hospital, Nelson allegedly began kicking at windows of the police car, prompting officers to pull over, pull him out of the car, and attempt to put him in a restraint device known as a WRAP.
Nold, a former sheriff’s deputy, has been an attorney with Burris’ law firm for seven years, was recently publicly criticized by the Vallejo police union for her comments about the February death of 20-year-old Willie McCoy, who was shot more than 20 times by six Vallejo officers who fired a total of 55 bullets. McCoy’s family has retained Burrs’ legal services.
Earlier this month, the Vallejo Police Officer’s Association shared a Times-Herald article from June 8 in which Nold said during a police forum that she didn’t want to run the city into bankruptcy but she would to stop the loss of human life.
“These kinds of threats and self-serving plans of action are careless and reckless and are caustic to the health and well being of this City,” the VPOA wrote. “Remember the old saying….if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”
Nold responded in the comments section, saying the association was misquoting her “in an attempt to defame my character” and threatening legal action.
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