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Wednesday, September 3, 2003

The city of Rushville, Nebraska, is asking the state Supreme Court to throw out a wrongful death suit filed by the family of an Oglala Lakota man killed in a highway accident. The case will be heard Friday.

The family of Richard Big Crow says the city of Rushville was negligent because authorities should have kept him in police custody for public drunkenness. His blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit.

Big Crow's father filed suit against the city for $350,000 but a lower court dismissed it on a technicality. The Nebraska Court of Appeals, in a December 2002 decision, reinstated the case.

Family and friends say authorities in Rushville treat Indians differently. The Pine Ridge Reservation of South Dakota is 25 miiles north of the city.

Get the Story:
Court to hear case of drunken Native's death (The Lincoln Journal Star 9/3)

Related Stories:
Suit over death of Lakota man revived (12/11)

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