Maricopa County to settle pink underwear case; suit blamed policy in inmate's death
The estate of a mentally ill man has agreed to settle a suit that indirectly tied his death to a jail policy requiring inmates to don pink underwear.
The case was set for trial a second time on Sept. 17 after a federal appeals court reversed a verdict in favor of Maricopa County, Arizona, the Associated Press and Reuters report. The Associated Press has earlier coverage of the ruling by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The suit was filed in April 2007 by the estate of Eric Vogel, 36. The complaint alleged Vogel screamed that he was being raped as jailers forcibly dressed him in the pink underwear after an arrest for assaulting an officer.
About two weeks after his release from jail, Vogel ran several miles from the scene of a car accident and died from a heart attack the next day. The suit says Vogel panicked and ran because the responding officer told Vogel he could be jailed again on a warrant for resisting jailers during the struggle over his prison attire.
Jack MacIntyre, an aide to Sheriff Joe Arpaio, told AP that county risk managers agreed to settle because it was believed to be cheaper than the costs of continuing litigation. MacIntyre said the county would have won a second trial.
