COUNTY PAYS $75,000 OVER INMATE DEATH SETTLEMENT AVOIDS RISKY COURT FIGHTS.Byline: PATRICIA PATRICIA Practical Algorithm To Retrieve Information Coded In Alphanumeric PATRICIA Proving and Testability for Reliability Improvement of Complex Integrated Architectures PATRICIA PApilloma TRIal Cervical cancer In young Adults FARRELL AIDEM Staff writer The county agreed Monday to pay $75,000 to the family of a Castaic jail inmate, high on drugs, who died in custody several days after battling with jail guards. The three-member county Claims Board unanimously approved the settlement with the family of inmate Jerry Moreno, who died in January 2005 at the Pitchess Detention Center's North Facility, county spokeswoman Judy Hammond said. Family members had filed two federal lawsuits claiming wrongful-death and totaling $12 million against Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County Sheriff Lee Baca Leroy David Baca (b. May 27 1942, East Los Angeles, California) is the Sheriff of Los Angeles County, California. After graduating from Benjamin Franklin High School (Los Angeles) in 1960, Baca worked his way through East Los Angeles College before starting with the L.A. , two sheriff's detectives and 10 others. Investigators countered that Moreno was high on drugs and resisted efforts by sheriff's deputies trying to calm him. Still, Assistant County Counsel Roger H. Granbo wrote in a memo that the county would pay more in legal fees fighting the lawsuits and faced losing its case in court. Moreno, 33, died four days after an emergency response team was called to disarm him when he became violent, attacking fellow inmates with metal strips torn from a light fixture in his cell, Granbo wrote. Moreno had used marijuana and methamphetamine and resisted guards who tried to control him by firing plastic pellets filled with tear gas tear gas, gas that causes temporary blindness through the excessive flow of tears resulting from irritation of the eyes. The gas is used in chemical warfare and as a means for dispersing mobs. and by stunning him with a Taser gun, according to a deputy district attorney who determined the guards were not criminally liable for the inmate's death. Guards hog-tied Moreno, who continued to thrash on the ground, according to Granbo's memo. Paramedics arrived to transport Moreno, who suffered a gash to his head during the struggle, to a local hospital. Moreno repositioned himself onto his stomach on a gurney gurney /gur·ney/ (gur´ne) a wheeled cot used in hospitals. gur·ney n. pl. gur·neys A metal stretcher with wheeled legs, used for transporting patients. , which impeded his breathing and caused him to suffer cardiac arrest cardiac arrest n. Abbr. CA A sudden cessation of cardiac function, resulting in loss of effective circulation. Cardiac arrest A condition in which the heart stops functioning. . He was declared brain-dead days later. ``Our experts would testify that the cardiac arrest was caused by his violent resistance, coupled with the presence of drugs in his system,'' Granbo wrote. ``A reasonable settlement at this time will avoid further litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. costs and a potential verdict that could exceed the proposed settlement.'' |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion