$2.6 Million Paid for Detoxing Washington Jail Detainee Allowed to Leap to His Death, Additional NaphCare Payout Undisclosed
A young dad detoxing from fentanyl when he was booked into a Washington jail began exhibiting increasingly bizarre behavior, yet he was ignored until he climbed atop a metal sink and dived head-first onto the concrete floor, suffering a fatal spinal injury. That was the allegation made against staff at the Clark County Jail and its mental healthcare contractor, NaphCare, Inc., both of which reached a settlement with the Estate of Jessie Booth on April 30, 2025. Under its terms, the County agreed to pay $2.6 million, and NaphCare agreed to add an amount that was sealed by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on June 4, 2025.
Booth, 29, was booked into the lockup by deputies of then-Sheriff Chuck Atkins on December 2, 2021. Though they were advised at the time that he was detoxing from fentanyl, they allegedly did nothing over the next four days, even as Booth’s behavior began to grow increasing erratic and strange; according to the complaint later filed on his behalf, “deputies noticed his screaming, his actions not making sense, his banging on doors and windows, and his shouting, screaming, and yelling incoherencies.”
Jailers moved him between a trio of cells and two interview rooms, but otherwise they offered no help. Nor was any help offered by NaphCare nurse Amanda Biver, the complaint continued. When he was finally placed in a suicide-prevention cell on December 7, 2021, Booth began climbing the metal sink and using as it a platform to slam onto the concrete floor. When jailers noticed him unmoving on the floor, they entered the cell and grabbed him by his arms—something that should never be done with someone who has suffered a spinal injury, as Booth had.
Transferred then to a hospital, Booth was diagnosed with complete quadriplegia. He died of “complications of blunt force neck injury” just over six weeks later, on January 20, 2022. With the aid of attorneys Jesse A. Wing and Lauren I. Freidenberg-McBride of Macdonald Hoague & Bayless in Seattle, a suit was filed on behalf of his estate and his minor child, “J.B.,” by the child’s mother, Stacy Bowen. Proceeding under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, she accused the County, NaphCare, and various employees of deliberate indifference to Booth’s serious needs for mental and medical healthcare, in violation of his civil rights.
The parties then proceeded to reach their settlement agreement. Under its terms, the County paid $2.6 million, and NaphCare paid an additional amount that was redacted from court documents. Of that total settlement fund, $1.2 million in fees and $34,965.16 in costs was paid to Plaintiff’s attorneys; those costs included $20,000.50 in probate attorney’s fees and a $5,000 fee for Seattle attorney Bruce A. Wolfe, who served as Special Guardian Ad Litem (SGAL) for J.B.
The remainder of the settlement proceeds was split between Bowen and the child, whose portion was further divided to invest part in an annuity that would provide structured payments as the six-year-old matures. The order to seal the agreement was granted by the district court on the same day that the settlement was approved. See: Bowen v. Clark Cty., USDC (W.D. Wash.), Case No. 3:24-cv-05123.
As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.
Already a subscriber? Login
Related legal case
Bowen v. Clark Cty.
| Year | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Cite | USDC (W.D. Wash.), Case No. 3:24-cv-05123 |
| Level | District Court |
| Conclusion | Settlement |