The District is on the verge of a deal with the family of a slain New York Times journalist that overhauls the city’s emergency response, according to a District official. During the first week in March, Mayor Adrian Fenty will announce the settlement in the suit filed by the family of veteran reporter David Rosenbaum, according to the official.
Although the amount and details remain undisclosed, the source said it includes major changes in the way police, fire and emergency medical services officials respond to emergencies and crimes. The District official requested anonymity because final details of the agreement are still being worked out.
Rosenbaum’s family filed a $20 million lawsuit against the District and Howard University Hospital in November, claiming that their negligent response contributed to his death. The family said they hoped the lawsuit would help correct the culture within the District agencies that led to his death.
As a D.C. Council member at the time of the killing, Fenty criticized the city’s handling of the case. He met with the family and vowed to address the problems highlighted by Rosenbaum’s death.
Rosenbaum, who was 63, took a stroll outside his Gramercy Street home in January when two men jumped him and struck him repeatedly with a heavy plastic pipe. Both men earned murder convictions.
A D.C. inspector general’s report found multiple failures in the city’s response, including claims that emergency crews believed Rosenbaum was drunk rather than a crime victim. The ambulance treated the call as a low priority and bypassed the closest hospital, taking him instead to Howard University Hospital, nearly two miles farther away. Rosenbaum was left on a gurney for 90 minutes before he was examined, according to the family’s suit.
Rosenbaum died two days later.
His family also accused police of failing to investigate an assault of a former D.C. police officer two months earlier, which prosecutors linked to the men who killed Rosenbaum. By failing to investigate that assault, D.C. police allowed the men to roam free until their deadly attack on Rosenbaum, the lawsuit claimed.
