St. Joseph County’s attorneys have agreed to pay nearly $700,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the estate of a jail inmate who died of heroin withdrawal.
Police arrested William B. Anderson in April 2021 on heroin and cocaine possession. Court records say the Delaware man told the officer he was an addict and that withdrawal in jail would be hard.
Two days later jail staff found Anderson unresponsive and he was taken to the hospital, and three days after that he was pronounced dead. An autopsy attributed his death to complications from drug withdrawal, including dehydration.
The lawsuit alleged that heroin withdrawal by inmates must be “medically managed and closely monitored,” but jail staff did not properly assess Anderson or have him seen by a doctor.
In a settlement that county commissioners will vote on Tuesday, the county would pay $695,000 –- $445,000 to Anderson’s estate and lawyers now, and another $250,000 to a life insurance company. That $250,000 would grow over time to $600,000, to be paid to Anderson’s now six-year-old son, over six payments from age 18 to 35.
