$1.75M settlement for family of inmate who killed self on suicide watch at OPP

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Family members of a Coast Guard employee who in 2011 committed suicide while on suicide watch at the Orleans Parish jail settled a civil lawsuit Thursday (March 10) against the Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman and other parties, federal court records show. The family was awarded $1.75 million, said the plaintiffs' attorney, Emma Freudenberger, nearly five years after her clients' brother was found dead in his cell after having swallowing enough toilet paper to cut off his air supply.

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The suit alleges the sheriff's office failed its professional and legal duties in caring for Goetzee by exacerbating his already suicidal thoughts by treating him in a "callous, harsh and indifferent manner," and by leaving him unsupervised after Goetzee had declared suicidal intentions. Policy stated he was to be watched around the clock, the sheriff's office has acknowledged. A former deputy assigned to oversee Goetzee left his post, the sheriff's office said at the time. That deputy, William Thompson, was fired and later pleaded guilty to malfeasance in office and was sentenced in September 2012 to five years probation.

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A press release from the plaintiff's attorneys says the lawsuit filed 2012 alleges that William Thompson was not solely responsible, but Gusman, and his former Chief Psychiatrist Dr. Charles "Mike" Higgins and former medical director, Dr. Samuel Gore, "knew the jail failed to adequately supervise people on suicide watch and nevertheless condoned the situation." The lawsuit also alleged that Gusman accepted the "actively suicidal" federal inmate into the jail, "knowing the jail couldn't protect him or provide proper care," the release says. It notes the sheriff's office received nearly twice as much money per day for federal inmates as for state or local inmates.

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