$3.5M settlement for in-custody death

Summit County has reached a preliminary $3.5 million settlement with the family of a man who died of alcohol withdrawal while in jail in 2013, suffering a heart attack after three days of symptoms with no medical care.

The settlement is the second in four months reached by the county government over allegations of mismanagement at the Summit County jail. The county has also agreed to pay James Durkee $200,000 over claims that jail staff did not separate him from an inmate who had threatened him and failed to provide adequate care after the inmate assaulted him.

“This speaks to serious problems in the Summit County jail,” said David Lane, the Denver attorney who handled both cases. “How many little counties in Colorado are paying out close to four million dollars in settlements on cases involving abusing inmates?”

A federal civil rights lawsuit brought on behalf of Zackary Moffitt’s family alleges that jail staff “watched as Mr. Moffitt became increasingly delirious, yet did nothing to provide Moffitt with the medical attention he so desperately needed.”

After three days of vomiting, hallucinations and suicidal thoughts, Moffitt had a heart attack in a jail holding cell on July 9, 2013. He was placed on life support and died four days later, on July 13.

The suit alleges that he would have survived if he had been given medical attention. Jail staff called an on-call doctor, but he was on vacation at the time, according to documents.

“Well how about you call another doctor?” Lane said. “How about you take him to a hospital? You can’t just let this guy die because the contracted doctor is on vacation, for crying out loud.”