Parents of autistic teenager sue Louisiana police for killing 16-year-old after sitting on him for a total of NINE minutes after they were called to a shopping center parking lot where he was hitting and biting his father

The parents of a 16-year-old severely autistic boy have filed a federal lawsuit against members of a Louisiana sheriff's department after they allegedly sat on their son for a total of nine minutes - the act of which lead to his death a year ago.

According to the federal lawsuit, deputies from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office sat on the shackled, obese teen, Eric Parsa, for a total of nine minutes. They put a chokehold on him for part of that time, the lawsuit says. 

The suit claims the sheriffs deputies used excessive force against the developmentally-disabled boy, without taking the appropriate steps to make sure he could breathe while he was being restrained. 

A police officer is seen kneeling over autistic teen Eric Parsa, 16, while his mother Donna Lou (in red) and father Daren Parsa help restrain the boy during an episode

Eric is pictured with his parents, Daren Parsa and Donna Lou . Eric died in January 2019, apparently as a result of 'Excited Delirium' caused by an acute psychotic episode

The suit, filed in federal court in New Orleans by the boy's parents, Donna Lou and Daren Parsa, of Destrehan, Louisiana, says they had to watch as their only child suffocated in a shopping center parking lot in suburban Metairie, Louisiana on January 19, 2020. 

The incident was caught on camera by passersby and surveillance video.  

The allegations in the lawsuit - which names seven deputies and the sheriff as defendants - include excessive force and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  

The incident began following a game of laser tag - an activity that Eric regularly engaged in - at the Westgate Shopping Center strip mall. 

After the laser tag session that day, Eric went into a 'melt-down' and began slapping himself and slapping and grabbing his father, Daren. He also bit Daren hard enough to draw blood, according to the lawsuit.  

Police were called to the parking lot because Eric was hitting and biting Daren . A police officer is seen after arriving at the scene

Daren is shown trying to hold Eric down while restraining him as the officer returns to his car

Daren is shown pinning Eric to the ground while the officer helps restrain him. Donna (in red) is shown standing nearby

Eric is seen being taken away by an ambulance after he had gone limp while being restrained

The suit said the laser tag manager called in sheriff's office reserve deputy Chad Pitfield, who was providing security for the strip mall, and told him the 'adult child' was autistic. When on duty for the sheriff's department itself, reserve deputies are unpaid volunteers. 

Additional deputies were also called to help Pitfield and were told that Eric was severely autistic, attorneys said. 

Surveillance video obtained by WWLTV showed Eric leaving the laser tag facility and walking to the family car. Daren follows the boy, while holding what appears to be some kind of a harness. 

Eric suddenly starts slapping at his head with his hands and, as Daren holds out the harness, the boy begins striking at his father. Daren backpedals as he tries to avoid being hit. 

Some unspecified minutes later, a passerby's video shows Daren - who appears to have lost his shirt while trying to calm down Eric - speaking with a man in uniform. Within seconds, Eric launches himself out of the family car and begins attacking Daren, hitting him on the head and back. 

Eventually, the officer - who is significantly bigger than Eric - steps in and grabs Eric by the arm, stopping him from hitting Daren. When Eric begins to hit the officer, he and Daren manage to bring Eric down to the ground, as Daren can be seen leaning his weight against Eric's lower body to try to keep him still during the episode.  

Additional surveillance video shows Donna joining her husband and the officer as they try to restrain Eric, who is fighting back, as well as additional officers arriving and working to restrain the boy. 

The first officer on the scene was not identified by name. 

Daren and Donna (on Thursday) filed a federal lawsuit against the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office and the owners of the strip mall for negligence and violations of Eric's civil rights

The lawsuit said that officers failed to put Eric into the recovery position, despite having had multiple chances to do so while he was calm. Eric is pictured with Donna

Eric was said to have died as a result of 'Excited Delirium' caused by an acute psychotic episode, with 'Prone Positioning' among contributing factors

According to the lawsuit, a 'seriously overweight' Pitfield had little difficulty getting Eric prone.

Pitfield weighed 365 pounds (165 kilograms) and stood 6 feet 3 inches (1.9 meters) when he applied to the sheriff's department in 2007, it noted.

Pitfield then sat on the teen's rear end for about seven minutes, after which another deputy 'took his place on E.P.'s back side,' the lawsuit said, referring to Eric. 

It said eventually seven deputies were 'sitting on, handcuffing, shackling, holding down, or standing by E.P. as he was restrained and held face down on his stomach against the hard surface of the parking lot.'

Eric was held there for nine minutes and six seconds, the lawsuit said. During that time, according to the suit, 'there were several clear and distinct opportunities, when E.P. was secured, was calm, was not actively resisting,' when deputies should have but didn't 'appropriately reduce the use of force.'

It said the second deputy atop Eric raised the teen's cuffed hands above his head and also put a chokehold on him.

When that deputy was trading places with a third, they noticed that Eric had gone limp, according to the suit. At that point, Eric was rolled onto his side. 'By then it was too late. E.P. was dying,' the lawsuit said.

Until then, nobody was checking to see whether Eric could breathe, and he wasn't put on his side or a sitting or 'recovery' position to let him breathe more easily, the lawsuit said.

Deputies tried CPR but did it wrong, pressing on Eric's belly rather than his breastbone, according to the suit.

Eric's mom, Donna Lou, told the deputies she was a doctor and offered to help with CPR, but the deputies 'told her to stay back and let them do their job,' the suit said, adding the parents watched as their son turned blue, foamed at the mouth and was dying.

An ambulance then took the boy to a hospital, the lawsuit said, and a nurse later called to tell the couple their son's heart had stopped, according to the suit. 

The parish coroner ruled the death accidental, 'as a result of Excited Delirium' caused by an acute psychotic episode, with his obesity, enlarged heart and 'Prone Positioning' among contributing factors, the lawsuit said. But it added: 'E.P. did not die of 'excited delirium' and his death was not accidental.' 

The lawsuit claimed that Eric was kept face down on the ground and was not moved into 'recovery position' by having his sit up or roll onto his side so he could breathe, despite there having been opportunities to do so while the boy had calmed down, NOLA.com reported. 

The suit added that it 'wasn’t until his body had gone limp, and he had urinated on himself that the deputies rolled him into a "recovery position." By then, it was too late,' the lawsuit said.  

'Never did we ever think that our 16-year-old son with special needs would die in front of our eyes and in the hands of law enforcement,' Lou said weeping as she read a statement during a news conference on Zoom Thursday.

We are private people ... but we understand that sharing Eric's story is the only way to bring change,' Lou said. 

Because she and her husband are witnesses, they could not answer questions, attorneys said.

'Our position is that techniques and actions by the sheriff's department would have been inappropriate in any circumstances,' said attorney Howard Manis.

He said Eric's disability 'only exacerbates how egregious the conduct by the sheriff's department was.'

Both obesity and autism make breathing more difficult when someone's face-down, the lawsuit said. 

The sheriff's office's statement said, 'While the Sheriff´s Office understands that all deaths are cause for sadness and a time for grieving, this lawsuit is rife with false claims and malicious accusations against the first responding deputies.' 

The sheriff's office's statement did not mention specific 'false claims' but said Eric had mental conditions that made him violent, and deputies were called because he had attacked his father. 

They 'tried to control the violent teenager's outbursts to prevent him from again attacking his parents and first responders,' it said, while also noting that it was commenting because it wouldn't allow its officers to be 'maligned and slandered by those seeking to profit from this unfortunate situation.'

The owners of the shopping center are also being named in the lawsuit, along with the police, for negligence and violations of Eric's civil rights, WWLTV reported.  

The family is seeking an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages.