by Michael Tilley (mtilley@talkbusiness.net)
A $6 million settlement has been reached in a lawsuit related to the 2021 death of Larry Price Jr., in the Sebastian County Jail. As expected, the settlement will cost Sebastian County $3 million, which the Quorum Court approved on Aug. 20.
A lawsuit was filed Jan. 13, 2023, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas seeking a jury trial. The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III. Sebastian County and Turn Key Health Clinics, the company contracted to provide medical care at the jail when Price died, were named as defendants. The lawsuit was filed by Seattle-based Budge and Heipt on behalf of the Price family.
In August 2020, Price, who had a history of mental illness and had several interactions with law enforcement, entered a Fort Smith police station where he was alleged to be verbally threatening and pointed his fingers in the shape of a gun. He was charged with making terroristic threats and booked into the Sebastian County Jail with bail set at $1,000. Unable to make bail, Price would remain in the county jail, often in solitary confinement, for more than a year. He would die on Aug. 29, 2021.
$6 million settlement finalized in Sebastian County jail death case
Larry Price’s body was photographed Aug. 29, 2021, after being pronounced dead at the Mercy Fort Smith hospital.