Sebastian County Quorum Court approves $3 million payment to settle lawsuit involving man who died in prison | The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

FORT SMITH – Sebastian County Quorum Court agreed Tuesday to pay $3 million to settle a lawsuit related to a man who died in the county jail in 2021.

The Quorum Court unanimously approved the payment without discussion. The money will be provided from the county's general fund.

Larry Price Jr. was an inmate at the county jail when he died of starvation on August 29, 2021. He was 51 years old.

His estate filed a lawsuit on January 13, 2023, against Sebastian County and Turn Key Health Clinics, the prison's medical care provider at the time of Price's death.

“Because of his untreated mental health problems, Mr. Price ate and drank very little. Medical and prison staff were aware of his grossly inadequate food and water intake,” Price's lawyers wrote in the lawsuit.

The estate is represented by Seattle-based attorneys Erik Heipt, Hank Balson and Edwin Budge.

Representatives for Turn Key and Price's estate did not immediately respond to telephone calls seeking comment Wednesday.

According to court documents, Price was arrested on August 19, 2020, after he entered the Fort Smith Police Station and began yelling, cursing, and shouting incomprehensible noises at officers. He then held out his hand as if he was holding a gun and fired the imaginary gun while verbally threatening officers.

According to documents, this was common behavior for Price, and officers detained him in an attempt to calm him down. He was taken to the county jail and charged with first-degree terroristic threatening.

Price's estate wrote in the lawsuit that Price was mentally disabled and was arrested while suffering an acute mental health crisis. He was unable to pay his $1,000 bail and remained in jail while awaiting his court date.

“Mr. Price spent the next year in prison without being convicted of a crime, simply biding his time. For most of that year, Mr. Price languished alone in solitary confinement – in a state of acute psychosis – and was neglected by prison medical and police staff despite his desperate need for psychiatric care,” his lawyers wrote in the lawsuit.

The complaint further states that staff initially attempted to monitor his food and water intake, but quickly abandoned those efforts and did not intervene further to help him.

According to court documents, on August 29, 2021 – one year after Price's arrest – an officer found him unconscious in a puddle of standing water and urine. Fort Smith paramedics then took Price to Mercy Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Sebastian County Prosecutor Dan Shue wrote in a letter to Arkansas State Police on January 5, 2022, that after reviewing the agency's investigative file on the case, he believes no charges can be filed in connection with Price's death.

An autopsy by the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory found Price's death was due to “acute dehydration and malnutrition,” the lawsuit states, but Shue said other contributing factors included “a positive COVID-19 test at the time of death and schizophrenia.” The report concluded the death was “natural.”

At the time of his arrest, Price weighed 185 pounds, but at the time of his death he weighed 90 pounds.