Outrageous settlement yet again!

Whoops, hit enter too soon, I will edit it in bits so it isn't blank.

Miami Herald Link

Here, for starters:

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Tallahassee city commissioners approved a $2.6 million settlement Friday in the wrongful-death suit of a police informant who was fatally shot during a 2008 drug sting.

The parents of Rachel Hoffman, 23, sued after her death, claiming police were negligent in setting up the Florida State graduate as an undercover informant after she was caught with marijuana and pills without a prescription.

Jury selection for the lawsuit began this week and the trial was scheduled to begin Monday.

After a closed door session with attorneys Friday, commissioners voted 3-2 to approve the settlement, the first $200,000 of which will be paid by the city in the next few weeks, City Attorney Jim English said.

After her death, the Florida Legislature passed "Rachel's Law," requiring police to adopt policies to protect informants. The measure also requires special training for investigators who work with informants, makes police tell informants they cannot be promised reduced sentences and allows them to talk with a lawyer before doing anything.

OK, before I post a couple of more links to the story, here is what makes me so mad.....

#1, the police did not make a mistake. They specifically instructed her to not leave the designated area, to not get into a vehicle with anyone, and to not meet anyone anywhere that wasn't pre-planned. She violated all of those instructions.

#2, and the part that may have come out in a trial, but the city settled too early. She often bragged about being an informant and a "narc." She was banned from many college parties, because she was a known trouble maker, a narc, and a dangerous person because she could either bring trouble to the party, or bring police interest to the party.

#3, she was bragging about working for the police in the weeks leading up to her death.

So, why is the city paying out over $2M for "mistakes made" when the mistakes were primarily her mistakes, and she was a criminal herself?

reply to post b getreadyalready


Police need to do their own work, the girl died a result from a work arrangement with the police, im sure she was being compensated with a lighter sentence, or reduced fine.

Police took a risk, now they have to pay... Actually the tax payers will pay, but whos keeping track anyway?

reply to post by this_is_who_we_are




Sure wasn't! I typed in the subject line, and hit enter instead of tab.

Still filling in more details though.

Still more things that irk me.

Why is this making news in Hawaii?

Look at all these Tallahassee stories related to the issue, which really should be a non-issue!

And, who really gets paid in these lawsuit settlements? The ATTORNEYS!! The murderer's attorney gets paid, the city attorneys get paid, the plaintiff's attorney gets paid. The tax payers pay everyone's bills! Tallahassee already has 7.5% sales tax rate, tied for the highest in Florida!

IA it is ridiculous! She was stupid, she never should have left the designated meeting spot, if she had only met those guys where the police told her to meet them she'd still be alive.

reply to post by getreadyalready


EDIT: Sry misread, it wasn´t the police that shot her from the article


Hope those guys that shot her get what they deserve, that was a horrible crime.

And yeah i agree with OP that settlement was a bit high... this girl must have known it was risky business, although i think the police fumbled the ball when they lost her.

Crimes of this character would not even be happening with the right president...

reply to post by WhoDat09


Wiki

While she was at the drug buy, with the policemen monitoring, the two suspects changed the location of the buy. Her handlers lost track of her when she agreed with the change in plans and left the buy spot with the two suspects in their car, a stolen silver BMW. While in transit, the two suspects allegedly executed her with the same gun she was supposed to buy.

However, I have to admit, sending her to meet someone she didn't know for a first time drug buy, and only having 2 officers does sound very haphazard and dangerous. I was previously under the impression that she was setting up her normal dealers, I just learned that she refused to turn on her normal dealer and instead decided to make a first-time buy from these guys. Bad decision on her part, and even worse on the police in that aspect. But, to be fair to the police, these guys were extremely small-timers, and not considered dangerous.

Deneilo R. Bradshaw, 23, and Andrea Jabbar Green, 25, who were fired from their jobs at a window tint and car detailing shop just days before the incident, were charged with armed robbery in connection with the events leading up to Hoffman's death. Additional charges are pending

I guess what just gets under my skin is the nationwide outrage over this one girl's death. She was facing jail time herself. Why do some people, like her, get laws named after them and nationwide press, but all of the daily horrors in the nation go unnoticed?

Rachel Hoffman's story has garnered many news headlines including a page on the Tallahassee Democrat website dedicated to information surrounding her death. "20/20" covered this story on July 25, 2008. Dateline NBC covered this story on Friday, 16 January 2009, at 10:00 PM, 9 Central time, and is expected to re-play the piece on its sister networks.

reply to post by NeoVain


The police didn't kill her! The two guys she got into a car with a drove off with killed her! They shot her something like 5 times!

This wasn't trigger happy cops that killed this girl.

reply to post by NeoVain


Police didn't kill her. Two small-time drug thugs killed her, after she left the assigned location, met them somewhere else, and then got in their car and left with them. The police were supposed to be protecting her, but she went so far off-script that they lost her, and she got killed.

reply to post by NeoVain


cops didn't kill her brah.

reply to post by getreadyalready


this happens all of the time. Cities dont like bad publicity, especially at the political level. The Police in this case, and many many others, did everything right and the city will still settle.

The way the city views it its easier to pay the families off in order to keep it out of court. Usually confidentiality agreements as well as waivers that prevent the family from pursuing any other legal action / releaseing the city of any all all other liabilities come with it.

This is one of the MAIn reasons we need tort reform, as well as laws that would prohibit the city from yanking the carpet out from under the police when nothing was done wrong / no policy violations / improper / illegal action by the police.

We cant force people to become informations.

reply to post by WhoDat09


Yeah i noticed this just after i had posted that, edited the original post to reflect this...

My bad

reply to post by getreadyalready


I didn't know it was the first time she had met with the people who shot her. I agree with you there it was very stupid for all involved to do that!

and to add I don't know why some people get laws named after them and some people don't, it's something I just don't get.

reply to post by Xcathdra


I agree, Tort reform is desperately needed! Also, integrity needs a role somewhere. The City should have stood up for its police department. They settled for over $2M, they must have been afraid a jury award would have been even higher, and they must have been afraid the legal defense team would be even more expensive.

I work for the State, and we have full-time attorneys, but they are typically not very good. They work for menial salaries, and they are far out-gunned when it comes to a major suit. SO, we hire outside law firms to defend the state for the high-profile cases instead of using our in-house attorneys. It turns my stomach!

So, here in the OP, we have a city, with city attorneys on payroll, they are in prime position to stand their ground and fight the lawsuit. If they use their own attorneys, the legal battle is pretty cheap for them, but instead, they likely hired an outside firm, and then settled anyway!

Where is the integrity these days?

reply to post by WhoDat09


I can tell you my opinion, but it probably will stir some flames.

This was a young, pretty, white girl, from a decent family. Therefore, her death equals public outrage, a call to action, and a law named after her.

A friend of mine had his little sister shot in California, she was also a young college student, standing in a park, minding her own business. She wasn't a criminal, she wasn't an informant, she wasn't meeting known criminals, she was just talking to her friends and some idiots started shooting at each her and accidentally hit her, but her story didn't make the paper, the assailants were never caught, and there was no outrage, no nationwide press, it was just another day in the city!! (Actually, ghetto whispers later said the assailants were dealt with, street justice.)

reply to post by getreadyalready


Yes IA, pretty white girl shot, will bring the attention! We just had a case down here where a little girl a 2 year old was shot in the head and killed, she was a little black girl, but people down here were going crazy!! They were calling for Marshall Law! I think that is ridiculous, all they need to do is tell the police who shot her, they did do that and three people are in jail right now, and one of the suspected thugs was shot the next day and killed.

I guess you need to be a pretty white girl to have action taken or any laws named after you.

Originally posted by Xcathdra


We cant force people to become informations.

Woa there.

Lets stick with the truth here, shall we. It may seem like your giving options to you, but to people looking at
long jail time, or loss of children, there is no options.

I realize informants , or trading down jail time for information is a valuable Police tool.

But lets not get all holy here , the Police are fully aware there could be reprisals against informants, and
could not care less.

reply to post by getreadyalready


1-

#1, the police did not make a mistake. They specifically instructed her to not leave the designated area, to not get into a vehicle with anyone, and to not meet anyone anywhere that wasn't pre-planned. She violated all of those instructions.

before we start: are you in any way linked to this case? how do you know this stuff ?i mean i'll admit i skimmed all your links, but since i was looking for what you're claiming below, and didn't see it?

2-

#2, and the part that may have come out in a trial, but the city settled too early. She often bragged about being an informant and a "narc." She was banned from many college parties, because she was a known trouble maker, a narc, and a dangerous person because she could either bring trouble to the party, or bring police interest to the party.

why would she do a crazy thing like that? or was she intentionally sabotaging investigations where she was involved as an informant? whichever it was why did the police insist on continuing to use her as such
3-

#3, she was bragging about working for the police in the weeks leading up to her death.

umm isn't this already covered in #2?
4-

So, why is the city paying out over $2M for "mistakes made" when the mistakes were primarily her mistakes, and she was a criminal herself?[bolded by replier]

that's not very illuminated of you. definitely not one of your better posts.
why? in your 1st post.

Originally posted by Xcathdra
We cant force people to become informations.

The parents of Rachel Hoffman, 23, sued after her death, claiming police were negligent in setting up the Florida State graduate as an undercover informant after she was caught with marijuana and pills without a prescription.

Read more here: www.miamiherald.com...=cpy

are you being facetious, xcath? we all know you do your research before giving opinions, or did you miss that part?

i'll grant you this: the cops didn't point a gun at her head...


but the predatory lesbians awaiting her were no doubt mentioned in passing.

Rachel Morningstar Hoffman was killed during a drug sting gone bad while working as a confidential informant for the Tallahassee Police Department.

Hoffman’s death has sparked controversy about TPD's handling of the case and the use of confidential informants. Rachel's Law, intended to protect confidential informants in Florida, was signed into law in May 2009.

Deneilo Bradshaw, one of two men accused of killing Hoffman, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Andrea Green faces trial in October.

www.tallahassee.com...

reply to post by DerepentLEstranger


I live in the town, and some of what I said may not have been in the main links, but it was covered in the dozens and dozens of news stories over the past couple of years. I live in the same town, know some of the same people, read the newspapers, and watch the local news. This story has been a blight on the community for a couple of years now. It was horrendous and sad when it happened, it was horrendous and sad when the details started coming out, and it was horrendous and sad when they blamed the police, and it is horrendous and sad now that the taxpayers will be taken to task over it.

Hell, if they're gonna make us all pay for it, they could at least have had the decency to leave us out of it for the past two years. We didn't need to relive it day in and day out, and then also pick up the tab for the whole thing.

No, I don't think she intentionally got herself killed, I think she was just a naive girl, that liked to talk too much, and liked to stick her nose where it didn't belong, and likely felt invincible because of her youth and fairly easy life. I feel terrible for her parents, and it is a giant shame, she certainly did not deserve to die......... but the murderers are in jail, why should the family get $2M???

Originally posted by getreadyalready
now that the taxpayers will be taken to task over it.

Hell, if they're gonna make us all pay for it, they could at least have had the decency to leave us out of it for the past two years. We didn't need to relive it day in and day out, and then also pick up the tab for the whole thing.

money:shk: and we're talking about money that once you forked it over stopped being yours, never mind that it never was. oh well...

why should the family get $2M???

why should you folks have used her up and thrown her away, they shouldn't?

i mean really now; if i have to explain it to you, chances are you'll never understand.

typical :shk: sending a girl out to do what the manly TPD couldn't or daren't do