The Associated Press
DENVER — The Denver City Council has approved a $3 million settlement with the family of a 24-year-old woman who bled to death in jail after being injured in a car crash.
Emily Rae Rice died Feb. 19, 2006, after being jailed 20 hours with a lacerated spleen and liver as guards ignored her cries for help. Rice was jailed on suspicion of drunken driving.
The council Monday night voted 11 to 1 in favor of the settlement. Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz cast the dissenting vote, saying the amount was “excessive.”
Attorney Darold Killmer, who represented Rice’s parents, Sue Garber and Roy Rice, says the vote shows a “sensitivity on the part of the council that we expected to see.”
The settlement comes six months after Denver Health Medical Center paid the family $4 million to settle a separate lawsuit.
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