Mesa man files claim against law agencies

Blood rushed from the unconscious man's head. A crowd gathered as men pushed and threatened each other and women holding the victim yelled at the man in the Arizona Cardinals jersey who had thrown the knock-out punch.

When Chandler police arrived in the first minutes of 2008 at McDuffy's Bar & Grill, 980 E. Pecos Road, there was more fighting before two men left in handcuffs: Levi Pew, 25, who was charged a month later with manslaughter, and Jeremy Self, 36, who was booked on suspicion of disorderly conduct, interfering with a police investigation and resisting arrest.

Self of Mesa alleges in a June 27 notice of claim that he was trying to keep the peace and help the injured man, Wallace Murray, 25, when Chandler police tackled him from behind, stung him with a Taser and broke his elbow. The claim is paperwork a plaintiff must file before suing a government agency in Arizona.

Self also alleges the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office didn't provide adequate medical treatment while he was in jail for three days after the incident.

The Chandler Police Department declined comment for this story.

However, Chandler police officers who responded to the fight wrote in their reports they told Self three times to back away from the injured man before they placed him under arrest and he resisted.

Reports say it took three officers to take down Self, a personal trainer and construction worker who stands 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 260 pounds.

Officers also wrote in their reports that Self admitted to not listening to them. Some of the witnesses, including his wife, said police were telling him to back away, the report states.

Self declined to be interviewed for this story, but his attorney, Joel Robbins, said police were just telling people to step aside and never announced their presence as they arrived to control the mob.

If they had done that, Robbins said, Self would have complied instantly.

"They just kind of jumped on Jeremy," Robbins said.

According to the police report, Self was at the restaurant with a party of 10 while Pew and Murray, brothers-in-law, were there with their wife and girlfriend and some other friends.

Self had a brief exchange of words with Pew, but nothing came of it.

Pew, Murray and their party were then kicked out of the bar by the manager of McDuffy's and the two men got into a shouting match outside. Pew eventually punched Murray once in the face, causing him to fall and hit his head on the pavement.

He suffered a fractured skull and a doctor declared him brain dead the next day.

Self was leaving when he saw Murray on the ground and determined he wasn't breathing.

He went to Murray's aid but then saw that Pew and one of his friends were about to fight, so he jumped up to intervene.

Police wrote that when they arrived Self and Pew were in a pushing match.

Self, whose hands and arms were covered in Murray's blood, said he was walking back to Murray when police tackled him from behind.

"Jeremy says he did not know it was police when they made physical contact with him," homicide detective Brett Lockwood wrote in his report.