ALBUQUERQUE POLICE PAY $685,000 IN WOMAN'S DEATH
Albuquerque Journal (New Mexico)
T.J. Wilham
January 28, 2009
[Excerpts] The Albuquerque Police Department's failure to respond to repeated calls that a pregnant woman was in danger at the hands of her boyfriend - an incident that ended with him killing her and himself - already led APD to make significant changes. Now it will cost the department $685,000, as well. City attorneys confirmed Monday they have reached a settlement in a lawsuit filed by the family of Randi Regensberg, a 21-year-old woman who was killed in a murder-suicide by her estranged boyfriend, Cory Kotrba, in 2006. Friends of Regensberg had called 911 five times to report that she was in danger at the hands of Kotrba, who was a Los Alamos County firefighter. It took police more than an hour and a half to respond, which occurred after both were dead. Those friends had also tried to get help from an off-duty Albuquerque police officer, Hector Chavez, who lived nearby and refused to render aid. "This was tragic," said Albuquerque deputy city attorney Kathy Levy. "We are just glad it is resolved. We have heartfelt feelings for the family. Their loss was tragic and we have all felt it." In the wake of the tragedy, APD put in place different work schedules, a new dispatch system and different rules for what constitutes a priority call. In addition, Chavez was disciplined and a dispatcher resigned... The Regensberg case has been used as a training tool and is brought up at nearly every academy class, police officials said. Police Chief Ray Schultz said his entire department knows the name "Randi Regensberg." "This incident is never really going to be behind us," Schultz said Monday. "There are certain cases that everybody in the department knows about that send a very strong message in the organization about what could happen when things go wrong, and this is one of them"... Under state law, the maximum a jury could have awarded the Regensberg family is $750,000 because the city is publicly funded. The award will be paid out of the city's Risk Management fund. The city of Albuquerque has a "no settlement" policy on suits filed alleging police misconduct. Levy said the policy didn't apply in this case since the suit was not alleging excessive force and it dealt with systematic issues. Levy noted that under the settlement, the city is not admitting liability. [Full article here]
[domestic violence murder suicide]
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