The family of the retired New York Times reporter who was bludgeoned to death outside his Northwest Washington home filed a $20 million lawsuit Monday against the District and a D.C. hospital.
Former newsman David Rosenbaum, 63, was taking a stroll outside his Gramercy Street home in January when he was jumped from behind and struck repeatedly with a heavy plastic pipe. Last month, a D.C. jury convicted Percey Jordan Jr., 42, for murder, robbery and credit-card fraud. Jordan’s cousin, Michael Hamlin, 24, pleaded guilty to murder and conspiracy.
The family’s lawsuit closely follows an inspector general’s report in June that 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 2 miles farther away. Rosenbaum was left on a gurney for 90 minutes before he was examined, the suit states.
The hospital’s neurological team did not evaluate Rosenbaum until nearly four hours after he arrived, according to the lawsuit. It was almost 6 a.m. when he was taken to the operating room, the lawsuit said.
Rosenbaum died two days later.
“We’re the nation’s capital; we shouldn’t have an ambulance system at the Third World level,” said the family’s attorney, Patrick Regan.
Rosenbaum’s family also accused police of failing to investigate a similar attack in which Jordan and Hamlin were implicated a month and a half before the assault on Rosenbaum. Former D.C. police sergeant James W. Rose was beaten unconscious and hospitalized for four days, but D.C. police refused to classify the assault as a crime, according to the lawsuit. By failing to investigate the assault on Rose, the D.C. police allowed the men to roam free until their deadly attack on Rosenbaum, the lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit also repeats other inspector general findings, including that the senior firefighter in charge that evening had never been trained or certified as an EMT and that the three D.C. police officers who responded failed to secure the scene or conduct an adequate preliminary investigation.
Mayor Anthony Williams and Mayor-elect Adrian Fenty in separate statements did not respond directly to the lawsuit.
The Associated Press contributed to the story.
