Stupid mistakes by cops cause Scottsdale to pay out $3 million for liability claims. Original Article Scottsdale liability payouts top $3M By Jonathan Athens, Tribune March 17, 2006 Large cash settlements resulting from two fatal vehicle collisions helped boost payouts for Scottsdales liability claims to their highest amount in recent years. The city paid a combined total of more than $3 million in 13 liability claims for fiscal year 2005-06, city figures show. Claims involving traffic fatalities amounted to about $2.5 million, with more than $2 million of that stemming from two collisions on Loop 101 that killed four people. Both crashes were caused by drivers who were under the influence, according to police and court documents. Those two claims in particular have prompted city officials to ask the City Council early next week to transfer $1 million in reserve funds to cover the cost of claims Scottsdale is expected to pay through the end of the fiscal year, said Pauline Hecker, the citys risk management director. This is the most Scottsdale has paid in liability claims since fiscal year 2001-02, when it paid out $2.5 million. City spokesman Mike Phillips said traffic fatalities in Scottsdale cannot be predicted. One fatality is too much. If there are things we can change, we do change them, Phillips said referring to the citys photo enforcement system. Unfortunately, we havent seen a definable trend when it comes to traffic fatalities. Almost every traffic fatality is based on a whole individualized set of factors, Phillips said. Scottsdale last year paid $578,000 in a settlement with the four minor children of Christina Laux, 29, of Scottsdale, who died in a crash. Laux was killed in August 2002 along with Stephanie Monogye, 20, of Scottsdale, and Ruslan Kramarovsky, 26, of Mesa, when the pickup truck they were in was struck by a drunken driver in a Jeep Laredo. The drunken driver, David McKinney, had also crashed into another vehicle and came to a stop in the median. The pickup truck Laux, Monogye and Kramarovsky were in careened off the freeway. Arizona Department of Public Safety officers, who were investigating the crash involving the Jeep and the other vehicle, didnt know about the collision involving the pickup truck until a news helicopter found the wreckage hours later. Scottsdale also was part of that search. McKinney was later sentenced to 14 years in prison. The city also paid $1 million last year to the family of Cody Morrison, 22, who died after the car he was riding in was struck by David Szymanski, 22, as Szymanski was fleeing police. Five Scottsdale police officers who were involved in the chase were subsequently reprimanded and suspended for 150 hours for failing to follow department policy. The city also paid a combined total of $500,000 to two other occupants who were injured in the crash. Szymanski is on trial in Maricopa County Superior Court on one count of firstdegree murder and 11 other felony charges relating to the crash. In addition, the city paid $59,999 to the family of a Marcy Lynn Weitz, 31, and her son, Vayden Zoe Weitz, 7, who were killed in a crash in late July 2004 at the intersection of 96th Street and Poinsettia Drive. Phillips said the city was liable for a stop sign that was partially obstructed by brush. The city also paid $400,000 to Norman Watson whose wife, Sue Watson, was killed in January 2005 when a Scottsdale detective crashed into her as she was turning at the intersection of Camelback Road and 29th Street, according to city records. Jack Ryan, co-director of the Indiana-based Legal and Liability Risk Management Institute, said private citizens filing for damages when law enforcement agencies are involved is a trend that has been on the rise since the 1980s. Sometimes when they see the amount of the payment in the media it entices people to file and it entices lawyers to take the cases, Ryan said. The remaining settlements the city paid in fiscal year 2005-06 ranged from a person who tripped and fell to damages to sewer and cable lines. Contact Jonathan Athens by telephone at (480) 970-2342.