Associated Press
NEW YORK — The family of a mentally ill jail inmate who died after swallowing toxic detergent has reached a $3.8 million settlement with New York City.
The Daily News reports that Jason Echevarria’s family members agreed to settle their lawsuit over Echevarria’s 2012 death at the Rikers Island jail complex.
Echevarria died after swallowing a detergent ball he had been given for cleanup.
Former Rikers Capt. Terrence Pendergrass was sentenced to a five-year prison term in June for denying Echevarria the medical care that could have saved his life.
Echevarria was being held in a unit of Rikers dedicated to the mentally ill.
The Echevarrias’ lawyer, Joshua Kelner, calls the settlement “an acknowledgment of the seriousness of what occurred.”
A city law department spokesman says the settlement “brings closure.”