Lawyers representing a teenager in Arizona have given notice of their intention to take legal action against the city of Phoenix and three police officers for a violent incident that resulted in the then-16-year-old boy sustaining a broken wrist and a facial cut. Furthermore, the officers allegedly informed the boy’s father that he could essentially do anything he wanted to his son without it being considered child abuse.
In footage captured by body cameras, Sergio Nino informed the three officers that his father, who shares the same name, regularly abuses him. This claim was supported by statements from his then-18-year-old sister. However, the officers in question – identified as Matthew Smith, Blake Willer, and Kristofer Gries – disregarded the children’s allegations. When Nino was taken to a hospital for medical attention, the officers allegedly ignored the nurse’s efforts to address the suspected abuse, even going as far as denying that the boy had disclosed any abuse to them, as stated in the notice of claim submitted by the legal representatives.
Nino Notice of Claim by kc wildmoon on Scribd
Nino repeatedly complained to the officers that the handcuffs placed on him were too tight, doing so over twenty times before they eventually agreed to adjust them. Subsequent X-rays revealed that the boy had suffered a broken wrist, necessitating surgical intervention. Additionally, a cut on his face, sustained during an altercation with the officers when they forcibly threw him to the ground after confiscating his phone, required five stitches.
But it was the officers’ comments to Nino’s father, all taken from the officers’ own body cameras, that drew the most pointed comments in the notice.
Sergio Nino, the father, called police on January 23, 2024, because, he said, his son was “acting out” by missing school and refusing to give him the cell phone that he (the son) bought an paid for. The officers told Nino to “drag” the boy and “hit him,” according to body camera footage.
“If you wish to beat him, beat him,” an officer says. “If you wish to belt him, belt him.”
The boy “only has rights from the government,” the officer says. “He has no rights from you.”
The officers and the father talk for about 10 minutes before the father brings the cops to his son’s room and calls him out.
“The officers ordered Sergio, a 16 year old teenager, to come out of his room,” the document says. “Sergio complied in a calm, non-aggressive manner. When Sergio came out of his room, the officers immediately began to harass and demean him.”
The boy told the officers that his father regularly abused him, but the officers dismissed what he said, telling the boy that he has “no rights” and “your dad should beat you.”
At that point, the officers demanded the boy’s phone, calling him a “little brat” when he explained that he paid the bill for the phone.
The officers snatched the phone from the boy’s hands and then took him violently to the floor when he reached for it.
The notice of claim asks for $500,000 to stop the lawsuit entirely but says that amount will go up if the case is forced to go to court.
Phoenix Police declined to comment on the notice and pointed KNXV to “public records.”
