Michael Saffioti at guard's desk using inhaler shortly before being sent back to cell where he would succumb to anaphylactic shock a short while later
Snohomish County in Washington has settled another lawsuit with the family of Michael Saffioti. Saffioti died in a jail cell from food poisoning after he pleaded with guards to take him for help as he experienced an
anaphylactic reaction to food served to him.
A 22-year-old Washington man locked up for a misdemeanor pot bust was left to die in his jail cell after guards ignored his food allergies, his family claims in a lawsuit.
Michael Saffioti begged for help from his cell at Snohomish County Jail after eating some oatmeal that triggered his debilitating dairy allergy on July 2, 2012, but was ignored by guards until it was too late, a video obtained by local KIRO-7 TV shows.
He had turned himself in because he had missed a misdemeanor pot court appearance. Let that sink in.
Snohomish County just announced a settlement in this case.
County officials said they were paying $620,000 to end the case.
An attorney for parents Rosemary and Giovanni Saffioti called the county’s figure misleading. The total amount of the settlement is four times higher.
“There was a global settlement discussed of $2.4 million,” said attorney Cheryl Snow of Seattle. “The plaintiffs are concerned about the gross misrepresentation of the amount that’s claimed to be paid by Snohomish County and its insurers.”
A strange play on the part of the County, but they've been nothing
but shady about this case since the beginning:
The mother of a severely allergic Mukilteo man who died in the Snohomish County Jail in 2012 is pushing for fines against the county after a protracted public records fight.
[...]
Saffioti's attorneys filed a public records request for the tapes, but initially were told the video didn't exist. Later, after finding a reference to their existence in a report on a Snohomish County Sheriff's Office death investigation, they pressed again for disclosure.
They filed a lawsuit Oct. 2 in King County Superior Court and ultimately got the jail security footage they were seeking.
Snohomish paid out a settlement in that public records case as well.
Nothing will bring back the Saffioti's child but humiliating and financially hurting the institution that neglected to help him might save someone else's life and make our institutions more humane.