LAS VEGAS (AP) — The president of the southern Nevada chapter of the nation's oldest civil rights organization is joining a call for Las Vegas police to stop using a neck restraint technique that can render suspects unconscious.
NAACP leader Roxann McCoy said Friday that police body camera video appears to show Officer Kenneth Lopera using excessive force to subdue an unarmed man who died last weekend.
Lopera, who is white, is seen using a stun gun, punches and an unapproved chokehold on Tashii Brown, who is black, in a parking area driveway behind The Venetian casino.
Brown also used the name, Tashii Farmer. The county coroner hasn't determined his cause of death.
Lopera is on paid leave while police investigate.
Neck holds are taught to Las Vegas police but are banned in many other cities.