Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 13, 1995                   TAG: 9505150034
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

2ND LAWSUIT FILED OVER MAN'S DEATH BY CHOKE HOLD

A wrongful death suit was filed Tuesday in Roanoke Circuit Court against the city of Roanoke and three police officers involved in a 1993 arrest that resulted in the death of Eric Scott Lee.

An almost identical federal lawsuit was filed Thursday, but with additional allegations that the police officers violated Lee's civil rights. The suit was filed in the name of Lee's widow, Terri Lee, who is administrator of his estate.

The federal suit also claims the actions by police on the night Eric Lee died "reflect a pattern of documented widespread behavior which the City of Roanoke, by and through its agents and employees, ignored repeatedly." The suit does not elaborate.

Roanoke City Attorney Wilburn Dibling did not return a call seeking comment on the suit Friday afternoon.

The suit filed in U.S. District Court in Roanoke seeks $750,000, the same as the one filed in state court.

The suit's allegations of civil rights violations refer not to race issues, but to whether Lee's constitutional rights were violated by the use of excessive force and a choke hold, "a use of force clearly not sanctioned in the circumstances," according to the suit.

The officers were cleared of any wrongdoing in investigations after the May 1993 incident by the police department and Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell, who called the death "a freak accident."

Officers S.F. O'Neill, J.M. Donaldson and R.L. Hague had arrived at the home of Lee's girlfriend to answer a report by another woman that she had been assaulted by Lee. In attempting to arrest him, a fight broke out involving all three officers and Lee.

Lee, 20, was choking O'Neill when Donaldson stepped in, police said. Donaldson used a choke hold to subdue Lee, wrapping his arm around Lee's neck from behind. Such a move slows the heart rate and cuts off oxygen to the lungs and blood to the brain - a combination that usually only causes loss of consciousness, but that can kill in 10 seconds.

Lee was handcuffed after losing consciousness, but police said they didn't notice he had turned blue until they moved him from a dimly lit room. CPR was attempted about six minutes after Lee lost consciousness, Caldwell estimated.