The state’s insurance fund will pay $4.25 million to settle a civil lawsuit brought against the Department of Corrections by a Pierce County woman who was run down by a felon under the agency’s supervision.
Kathie Larson, 51, suffered a number of traumatic injuries, including brain damage, when Aiyisha Gillespie intentionally ran her down with a stolen car in June 2008, court documents say. Larson was crossing a street in downtown Tacoma when she was struck. She was comatose for three weeks and hospitalized for six months.
Gillespie, 30, who did not know Larson, is charged with first-degree assault in the case. She’s to go to trial in September.
Larson’s lawyer, Darrell Cochran, said in a Wednesday news release that Gillespie’s mental health troubles and history of violence should have prompted corrections officials to revoke her conditional release from prison following a 2006 assault conviction. Instead, they allowed her to remain free.
“This is a tragedy that never should have happened,” Cochran said. “The state had a duty to protect the public from an individual they knew was dangerous and unstable.”
Corrections officials said in their own news release that there were “no significant flaws in Gillespie’s supervision.”
Attorneys representing the agency recommended settling the suit to “avoid litigation costs and potentially paying more as a result of a jury verdict,” the release states.
“We hope this will help Ms. Larson with the substantial medical bills she acquired as a result of the actions taken by the offender,” DOC Secretary Eldon Vail said. “This was a difficult case to settle because we believe we took appropriate actions while supervising the offender.”
The agency has supervised more than 200,000 offenders in the past five years; 19 have been involved in incidents that resulted in a settlement, the agency reported.
“It’s still frustrating in cases like this in which our officers do a good job and offenders still cause horrific damage, but we try to keep all of this in perspective,” Vail said.
Adam Lynn: 253-597-8644
adam.lynn@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/crime
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