BANGOR (AP) — The girlfriend of an inmate who died after being pepper sprayed at the Somerset County Jail has agreed to settle a negligence lawsuit that could pay her and the couple’s son close to $2 million.
The Morning Sentinel reports Pamela Swett filed the suit in April in Bangor federal court, naming then- Sheriff Barry DeLong and four corrections officers as defendants responsible for the May 2014 death of 27- year-old Joseph Daoust.
The suit alleged the sheriff ’s office denied Daoust medical attention and failed to get him care while officers watched him die for nearly two hours.
Daoust died of a pulmonary hemorrhage. An autopsy of his body showed his death may have been caused by pepper spray.
Court documents say the Somerset County Sheriff ’s Office will pay Swett roughly $2 million.
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