I am travelling today so this will be a quick hit and I’ll have more to say about the lawsuit on Sunday.
The Saylor Family has filed a lawsuit.
- Here’s an article from the local Frederick, MD, paper.
- Here’s an interview with Ethan’s mother, Patti.
- Here are some thoughts from Mark Leach, a blogger and lawyer (and ethicist) who I regularly read .
The autoposy ruled it a homicide and found that his throat had been fractured. The law has a phrase called res ipsa loquitur, meaning the thing speaks for itself. A classic example is negligence being found where a passer-by on the street is hit on the head from a mattress falling out of a hotel window. Here a young man was killed over not buying a movie ticket. The thing speaks for itself. As such, and with 99% of all civil cases settling, this case very likely will settle as well. But, hopefully not before civil discovery reveals what training, or lack thereof, the officers involved had and what communications were made about Saylor after the event by public officials.
That’s the key. Now the Saylor family has the legal power of civil discovery to compel testimony and release of documents. The state should have done this themselves, they didn’t, but hopefully through civil courts we’ll finally get some answers.