The Denver Post
Big payouts in Denver police cases
Wednesday, May 26, 2004 - May 2004: The Denver City Council approved a settlement of $210,000 for the family of Victor Hansen, a Denver jail inmate who committed suicide in 1998. March-May 2003: Elvia Gonzalez received a settlement of $210,000 for a 1998 sexual assault by Denver police officer Daniel Pollack. Two other women, also settled lawsuits with the city against Pollack. In total, the city paid $666,000. March 2001: Colleen Williams, the mother of Randy Bartel, was awarded $2.25 million for the death of her son. Bartel, a 22-year-old college student, was killed by officer Michael Farr, whose police cruiser slammed Bartel's car in on June 4, 1989. The city Tuesday said the total cost was $3.5 million including attorneys fees. January 2001: Denver paid a $1.2 million settlement for a boy who was shot and paralyzed by a Denver police officer in 1998. Officer Keith Cowgill shot DeShawn Hollis, who was 12 years old at the time, as Hollis and another boy ran from a house. October 2000: Denver paid $400,000 in the fatal shooting of Clinton Brown, who was shot by off-duty police officer Edmund Gray. Gray was trying to stop Brown in December 1994. City officials Tuesday estimated the total cost was $822,500. April 2000: Matthew Combs said officer Timothy McAleer beat him unconscious, leaving him with permanent brain damage, after his car hit the officer's police cruiser in 1998. He settled for $162,000. March 2000: Denver made a $400,000 settlement with the family of Ismael Mena. Mena was fatally shot by police in a no-knock, wrong-address drug raid. November 1998: Relatives of Jeffery Truax accepted a $250,000 settlement with the Denver Police Department for the March 1996 police shooting death of Truax outside a Denver nightclub. A jury had awarded the Truax family $500,000. October 1993: A federal jury awarded $330,000 to the family of Leonard Zuchel for the 1985 fatal shooting of Zuchel by Denver police officer Frederick Spinharney. The city put the total cost of this case at $486,737.17. Compiled by Jan Torpy, Vickie Makings and Anne Feiler of The Denver Post's research library. |