The Denver City Council on Monday agreed to settle for $3 million a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of the family of Emily Rae Rice, who died in the Denver City Jail.
The council approved the settlement on an 11-1 vote, with Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz dissenting and Councilman Michael Hancock absent.
“I believe $3 million is an excessive amount for taxpayers to pay,” Faatz said, stressing that Denver Health Medical Center had earlier agreed to pay the family and lawyers $4 million.
Denver City Attorney David Fine encouraged approval, noting that the settlement also requires the city to make extensive changes in jail procedures.
Rice’s father, Roy Rice, said he would wait to comment until a news conference today. Her mother, Sue Garber, also will attend that news conference. Their lawyer, Darold Kill mer, said the family did not feel insulted by Faatz’s stance.
“It’s a fair opinion that the amount of the settlement might be excessive,” he said. “We disagree, of course, and think the amount of the settlement is important to send a message as to how crucial this case was and what a tragedy it was and how important it is to change things.”
Rice, 24, died Feb. 19, 2006, in the jail 20 hours after she was released from the hospital. She had suffered a lacerated spleen and liver and bled to death from injuries she sustained in a drunken-driving crash. Her injuries went undetected at the hospital, and her cries for help were ignored in the jail, where she had been booked on suspicion of drunken driving.
An internal-affairs investigation resulted in three-day suspensions for two deputies at the Denver jail who failed to make required visits to the wing where Rice died and then falsified reports. Another deputy, with past discipline problems, resigned after lying to investigators about making her required rounds.
