Nearly four years after Darren Borges died while in police custody, his family has finally reached a $3.45 million settlement with Humboldt County in the wrongful death lawsuit they filed. In addition to agreeing to the monetary settlement, the county will also “implement health screening protocols before a person is put in a cell,” according to the agreement.Additionally, the jail where Borges was held must also “modify the sobering cell policy and enact a policy that the department will document, on an annual basis, that correctional staff has received training in departmental policies and procedures related to sobering cells, safety cells and use of restraints, suicide prevention, uncooperative or violent arrestees in pre-booking procedures and the handling of mentally disordered inmates,” according to the agreement.

Courthouse for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California; image courtesy of
National Archives via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org

What happened, though? Well, it all began on June 13, 2014. On that day, Darren Borges “was arrested by Eureka police...for public intoxication and he was placed in a sobering cell at about 2:30 p.m.” Almost two hours later he was “found unresponsive and he was taken to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead,” according to the lawsuit.An autopsy that was performed shortly after determined the cause of death was acute methamphetamine intoxication, prompting the Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal to say, “The sheriff’s office didn’t kill this person, the dealer did.” He also added that he was “sorry for the family's loss," but noted that he believed “they should have gone after the person who supplied Borges with a lethal dose of methamphetamine.”Despite what Honsal said, a federal jury ruled in August 2017 that the county was responsible for “the death of Borges and the county had the chance at that time to settle the issue with a $2.5 million payout.” However, the county appealed the ruling and lost, “and the settlement grew to $3.45 million to cover additional legal fees.”When commenting on the settlement, the attorney for the Borges family, Dale Galipo, said:“I am pleased with the settlement, I’ve known about it for some time. I think it was the right thing to do and I think they should have settled before the trial.”Galipo also noted that money wasn't at the center of the lawsuit for Daren Borges's mother, Stephany Borges. He said:“The mother, from the beginning, was not motivated by money, she was more concerned with getting to the truth of what happened to her son and not wanting this to happen to someone else’s child. It was very important that there be changes to the screening policies to prevent this happening in the future.”Stephany also issued a statement shortly after the settlement announcement, saying:“We brought this lawsuit because we never want this to happen to anyone else. We hope the officers finally get the training they urgently need to take care of those who can no longer take care of themselves during arrest.”

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County to pay nearly $3.5 million in settlement over wrongful death lawsuitCounty Settles Wrongful Death Lawsuit for $3.5 Million