The family of Kenneth Howard, who fell unconscious in police lockup and later died, settled a 5-year-old lawsuit with the city last month
TRENTON - It's been five years since Kenneth Howard was found unconscious on the floor of a Trenton police jail cell in January of 2011 - and last month the case started to finally reach a close.
Just one week before the suit was scheduled to go to trial, Howard's family settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the city of Trenton for $690,000 late last month, Robin Lord, an attorney representing the family, said.
The settlement will still need to be approved by the city council - either this month or next month - but Lord said the decision provided some closure for Howard's family.
"This has been going on for so long," Lord said.
Family of man who dies in lockup sues city
The family sued in December 2011 after the 55-year-old Howard, who was being held in the jail on warrant charges, was found unconscious in his cell from cirrhosis of the liver on Jan. 14, 2011.
He was undiscovered for seven hours, although authorities have said police should have been checking on him every half hour. Howard died from chronic liver failure the next day, leading the family to claim officers had failed to properly check on Howard while he was detained.
Apart from the lawsuit, the incident also resulted in charges against police officer Joseph Schiaretti and police aides Jose Millan and Richard Reyes, who were accused of falsifying records to cover up in the infrequent checks on Howard.
The charges against the men were dropped in November 2011 when the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office decided the matter should be handled administratively by the police department.
Lord noted that the decision was not an admission of guilt on the part of the city. She said that Howard's death "never should have occurred."
Anna Merriman may be reached at amerriman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @anna_merriman