The city will pay a whopping $3.8 million to the family of a mentally ill inmate who died in custody at Rikers Island after swallowing a toxic soap ball.
Jason Echevarria, 25, suffered an agonizing death in solitary confinement in August 2012 as his insides literally burned.
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Former Rikers Island Capt. Terrence Pendergrass, 51, was sentenced to five years in June for denying Echevarria the medical care that could have saved his life.
“It’s not a happy day for the family. It doesn’t bring Jason back,” said the Echevarrias’ lawyer, Joshua Kelner.
“They’re hopeful a consequence of this will be that it will not happen again.”
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Kelner added that to his knowledge, the figure was the largest sum paid by the city in a case involving denial of medical care.
“The settlement is an acknowledgment of the seriousness of what occurred,” he said.
Kelner said the settlement includes a symbolic $2,000 from former Correction Officer Raymond Castro, who said on the stand he alerted Pendergrass to Echevarria’s gruesome decline.
“The parties have reached a settlement in principle that brings closure to the family of a tragic matter,” a city Law Department spokesman said.
Echevarria’s father, Ramon, declined comment because he is “emotionally exhausted,” his lawyer said.
The details of his son’s demise were horrific.
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Echevarria faced a robbery charge and was housed in a unit of Rikers dedicated to the mentally ill.
He swallowed the concentrated ball of soap meant to be diluted in water and used to clean a sewage backup in his cell — possibly as a way to get out of solitary confinement, according to testimony at trial.
Echevarria vomited, spit blood on the window of his cell and asked to see a doctor, correction officers testified.
Castro and another guard told Pendergrass of Echevarria’s dire condition on separate occasions, prosecutors said.
But Pendergrass allegedly said he only wanted to know about an inmate’s health if there was “a dead body.”
Though Pendergrass was the only person convicted for the death, others were involved, Kelner said.
“It was an entire cellblock of correction officers who walked by and did nothing,” he said.
At sentencing, Pendergrass apologized but said he had not received “accurate” information about Echevarria.
Judge Ronnie Abrams said Pendergrass could have prevented the tragedy by simply calling a doctor. “A man died here — a 25-year-old man — because of your indifference and your callousness,” she said.
Ramon Echevarria had harsh words for the man held responsible for his son’s death following the sentencing.
“He’s not a human being. I hope he has a hard time in jail,” Ramon said.
Last year, the city paid $2.25 million to the family of Jerome Murdough, a homeless man who baked to death in his sweltering Rikers Island cell.
