This week’s approval of with the parents of Jessica Hernandez was just the latest in a string of payouts on large legal claims involving the Denver police and sheriff’s departments — a sum that has hit $14.5 million in the last three years.
Go back to 2004, and the city has paid nearly $28 million on police and jail claims, according to the latest review by The Denver Post of data provided by the Denver city attorney’s office. Claims involving civil rights, use of force and other justice issues accounted for the bulk of the money.
In that 13-year period, police- and jail-related claims have made up 82 percent of all settlements sent to the City Council for approval (a total $33.7 million). That step typically is required for claims payments of at least $5,000 in non-property-damage cases.
But since 2014, the proportion of settlement dollars going to police- and jail-related cases has been even higher, at 91 percent.
During that time, the city settled some big-ticket lawsuits that .
From and in headline-grabbing jail abuse settlements in 2014 to Hernandez, a teen who in an alley while behind the wheel of a stolen car two years ago, the names associated with the largest payouts have been well known by the public. Hernandez’s family and attorneys will receive $999,999, along with other concessions by the city.
But the two departments also have been involved in a number of lesser-known cases that have pushed the payout totals higher, with plenty of five- and six-figure payouts.
Another recent large payout resulted from a mistaken-identity case in which police raided a house and roughed up the Martinez family because of an incorrect tip. The incident , finalized in January.
The Post , just before the approval of a $3.25 million settlement for Hunter, who survived two jail attacks. The family of Booker, a homeless street preacher who died after a struggle with jail deputies, would reach a $6 million settlement with the city four months later.
Before those two high-profile settlements were approved, The Post found that the city had paid out $16.7 million to settle large legal claims across all departments since 2004. Nearly $13 million of that total was attributed to police and sheriff claims.
Three years later, more cases with the potential for big payouts remain unresolved.
Those include the jail death of Michael Marshall, an inmate who choked on his vomit while being restrained during a psychotic episode in 2015. An attorney .
