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The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors approved a $650,00 payout to the family of a 33-year-old man killed by a motorist who was “pursued recklessly and in violation of law at high speeds by” a Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputy.
The board approved the payout unanimously.
In September of 2007, sheriff’s deputies were in pursuit of a 15-year-old motorist who refused to stop. During the pursuit, the teenage driver fatally hit 33-year-old Salvador Cereceres Herrera.
In March of 2008, Cereceres Herrera’s family filed a claim against Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the Board of Supervisors, and the county’s Risk Management Department because, they allege, the teen was “pursued recklessly and in violation of law at high speeds by” Deputy Ronald Frieberg.
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Also named in the suit is Deputy Kelly Bocardo, one of Arpaio’s reality TV babe-cops, infamous for her televised “ass-beatings.”
Bocardo, the family claims, did not provide “critical information to her supervisor so he or she could manage the pursuit.”
As of May, defending the MCSO in legal cases has cost Maricopa County taxpayers more than $50 million since Arpaio took office in 1993, according to County Risk Management Department.
The MCSO’s been sued nearly 6,300 times under the Arpaio regime — and every time it costs taxpayers money.
Last month, ABC 15 compared that number to Harris County, Texas, which includes Houston and is almost the same size in population as Maricopa County. During the same time period, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office was only named in 283 lawsuits.
See the comparison here — then laugh…then cry.
