Posted 5/19/2007 11:31:00 AM by Douglas

Apparently not even Wal-Mart can kill a meth-head in the parking lot and get away with it.

The nation's largest retailer will pay nearly $750,000 to the family of a suspected shoplifter who suffocated as employees held him down in a parking lot outside a northeast Harris County store.

Stacy Clay Driver, 29, died Aug. 7, 2005, in a Wal-Mart parking lot as someone sat on him while he was face-down and handcuffed, said Brad Frye, an attorney for the family.

"One or more people were on his body and he couldn't breathe," Frye said this week. "This was a senseless, senseless death."

The case went to mediation before being settled in March, he said.

An autopsy showed that Driver had methamphetamine in his system when he was chased into the parking lot by a "loss prevention" employee at the store in Atascocita, where he was wrestled to the hot pavement.

Maybe they need to train a "loss of life prevention" employee for this kind of thing? Ok, someone stood on his back/neck until he passed out. Sounds like someone would be held responsible for that, no?

His death was ruled a homicide caused by asphyxia from neck and chest compression. The autopsy report listed a contributing factor as overheating with methamphetamine toxicity.

Frye said the methamphetamine may have contributed to Driver's death, but didn't cause it.

A Harris County grand jury in July 2006 declined to indict anyone in the case.

No indictment because he was a tweeker, no doubt. Who knows, but that's a lot of money:

According to court documents, an initial sum of $550,000 will go to Driver's wife, Wendy, their son, Ashton, and Driver's father, H.C. Driver.

The son also will receive $25,000 on his 25th birthday, almost $70,000 on his 30th and $100,000 on his 35th birthday, court papers show.

So only $5,000 goes to the lawyer?

It's a senseless death, but as I said before, don't get high and steal shit and security guards won't sit on you in the parking lot.