WHITEHALL, Ohio — Attorneys have filed a lawsuit against the City of Whitehall over the death of a man following his arrest at a Walmart. The incident took place on Jan. 19, and the man involved, 43-year-old Alex Menhenett, died five days later.
The Franklin County Coroner’s Officer stated the cause of death was due to blunt force trauma with skeletal and brain injuries.
According to the lawsuit, Menhennet took public transportation to Walmart to buy a space heater. When he entered the self-checkout area, he briefly interacted with a store employee who told him self-checkout was closed. The employee then called Walmart’s Asset Protection team and reported Menhenett was drunk and would not leave.
Rourke & Blumenthal, LLC is representing the plaintiff in this case.
Body worn camera video distributed by the law firm showed a Whitehall auxiliary police officer walking up to Menhenett inside Walmart. 10TV is not naming the officer involved because he is not currently facing criminal charges for this case.
Tim Mahler, one of the attorneys representing the Menhenett family, said Menhenett slurred his words and walked with a sway due to a severe car crash more than 20 years ago that left him permanently disabled. The crash also left Menhenett deaf in both ears. He later received a cochlear implant in his left ear to help him hear.
"His friends will tell you, his associates will tell you, there's times where Alex is difficult to understand because he slurs his words,” Mahler said.
The lawsuit also states Menhenett was a chronic alcoholic. During the incident, the officer asked Menhenett if he had alcoholic beverages that day. Menhenett seemed to not understand by the question.
Menhenett then asked the officer what’s the matter. The officer said his behavior indicated he is publicly intoxicated.
According to the toxicology report from the Franklin County Coroner’s Office, Menhenett had a blood alcohol level of 0.297%, which is more than three times the legal limit. The lawsuit claimed Menhenett developed a significant alcohol tolerance level greater than the average drinker from being a chronic alcoholic.
The officer then takes the space heater Menhenett was holding and places it on a shelf nearby. He then instructs Menhenett to place his hands behind his back. When Menhenett resists, the officer raises his voice telling Menhenett not to resist arrest, and asking him to place his hands behind his back.
Menhenett eventually complies with the officer and the officer motions for him to turn around. The officer then gets behind him and tries to grab him, but Menhenett walked away. The officer then calls for backup.
As Menhenett continues to resist, the officer takes him to the ground. Bodycamera video showed Menhenett was immediately unresponsive and bleeding from his head.
"It just didn't need to happen. This was such a preventable situation,” Mahler said.
Mahler believes they’ll have a strong case in court.
"The first point is that he should've never been arrested in the first place, but once the decision is made to arrest him, you can't use excessive force to arrest him,” Mahler said.
10TV reached out to Whitehall Police for a response to the lawsuit, but have not heard back. We’re also waiting to receive personnel files for the officer involved, as well as the full bodycamera video from the incident.