BY DAN HORN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
With a trial less than a week away, University Hospital agreed Thursday to pay an undisclosed settlement to the family of an escaped psychiatric patient who was shot to death by police.
The family of Lorenzo Collins filed the lawsuit against the hospital last year after he was shot in a Corryville yard while wielding a brick.
Mr. Collins, 25, was dressed in a flannel shirt and blue hospital pants when more than a dozen police officers surrounded him. He was shot three times and died five days later.
The lawsuit claimed the hospital was negligent because it failed to keep Mr. Collins from harming himself and did not provide reasonable protection from assault and battery by others.
It also alleged that hospital staff did not provide adequate security even though he had escaped at least once before.
The suit was filed by Mr. Collins' mother, Doris Floyd, and sought unspecified damages. A civil trial was set to begin Tuesday before Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Steven Martin.
But in separate statements Thursday, attorneys for both sides announced they had reached an agreement that would keep the case out of court.
"Mrs. Floyd is happy that this part of the case has been concluded and settled," said her attorney, Robert Newman.
The agreement requires both sides to keep terms of the settlement confidential. Hospital officials described the terms as "satisfactory to both parties."
Although the settlement ends the hospital's involvement in the case, Mr. Collins' family still has a federal lawsuit pending against the city of Cincinnati. The federal suit charges that the officers involved used excessive force and had not received adequate training for dealing with mentally ill people.
"Now we're putting our energies into the claims against the city," Mr. Newman said.
Mr. Collins' death set off protests and prompted a series of investigations, including one by the U.S. Justice Department into possible civil rights violations. Federal investigators cleared the officers.
