Did MS Coast casino security use ‘unreasonable force’ in arresting VIP? Jury set to decide

Anita Lee
·3 min read
27

Unless the case settles in the next few weeks, a jury will decide whether Beau Rivage Casino & Resort security officers used unreasonable force on a VIP guest who appeared drunk and didn’t leave when security asked him to.

Florida resident Brent Nettles, who was visiting the Biloxi resort with family, filed a federal lawsuit in March 2023 against the Beau Rivage. He accused the casino of numerous wrongs, including false arrest, malicious prosecution, gross negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

U.S. District Judge Taylor McNeel has already agreed with the casino’s contention that most of Nettles’ claims should be dismissed. A jury trial in the civil case is scheduled July 16 at the federal courthouse in Gulfport on two remaining claims: intentional battery and false imprisonment.

McNeel is set to rule before trial on how much testimony the jury can hear about Nettles’ injuries and whether a former Coast FBI agent can testify as an expert witness that casino security officers used unreasonable force, which is his contention.

Attorneys for both sides presented their positions to McNeel at a hearing Thursday.

Nettles will be asking the jury to award him around $16,000 for medical bills and an unspecified amount for pain, suffering and emotional distress.

Biloxi casino arrest

Nettles arrived at the Beau in March 2022, having visited the casino about twice a year since it opened 25 years earlier, he said in pretrial testimony. He left in handcuffs after being removed from a casino bar because, the Beau Rivage contends, he was staggering drunk.

McNeel agreed with the casino’s position that security officers had the right to ask Nettles to leave and to arrest him for trespassing when he failed to do so. A jury will need to decide if security officers took the arrest too far by wrestling Nettles to the casino floor, cuffing him and detaining him, the judge said.

Nettles admittedly got “tipsy” after his arrival at the Beau, having lost $5,000 while gambling. He resisted when Beau Rivage security told him to leave but finally decided to comply, his pretrial testimony indicates. Nettles said he then remembered that he had forgotten to pay the tab and was returning to do so when security officers descended on him.

Casino video shows Beau Rivage security escorting Nettles, in handcuffs, from the bar and across the casino floor to an office area, where he was belted to a bench. His father sat with him to wait for Biloxi police after what amounted to a citizen’s arrest by the Beau.

Injuries claimed in lawsuit

Nettles claims his left hand was injured when he was handcuffed, leaving him with nerve pain, a tremor and numbness. His regular physician, whose testimony Nettles plans to use, attributed the problem to the handcuffs and sent him to a neurologist.

The neurologist’s diagnosis was inconclusive. Nettles’ attorney David Harris said the neurologist did not respond when contacted about the case and will not be called as a witness.

Beau Rivage attorney Michael Kelly is skeptical about the cause of Nettles’ symptoms. Beau attorneys have an expert lined up to testify that any effects from “mechanical compression of the wrist” should go away in a short time. Kelly also said during the hearing that excessive drinking could cause the tremors.

But Harris argued that the symptoms started after Nettles was handcuffed, “He continues to have tremors,” Harris said. “He continues to have pain. He has numbness and tingling.”