The county of Humboldt has settled the federal civil rights lawsuit stemming from the 2014 jail death of Daren Borges, agreeing to pay Borges’ family $3.5 million in damages and legal fees, and to make various changes to jail policy. Borges, 42, a homeless, schizophrenic poet and artist, was living in Eureka at the time […]
Daren Borges
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County Settles Wrongful Death Lawsuit for $3.5 Million
The county of Humboldt has settled the federal civil rights lawsuit stemming from the 2014 jail death of Daren Borges, agreeing to pay Borges’ family $3.5 million in damages and legal fees, and to make various changes to jail policy. Borges, 42, a homeless, schizophrenic poet and artist, was living in Eureka at the time […]
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County Swaps Attorneys, Challenges $2.5 Million Wrongful Death Verdict
The County of Humboldt is asking for a new trial in the civil case that in August resulted in a jury verdict finding the county and its correctional officers liable in the 2014 jail death of Daren Borges and awarding $2.5 million in damages to his family. In addition to filing motions last week asking […]
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TL;DR: What You Need to Know About the $2.5 Million Verdict Against the County
Busy week? We’ll help you catch up on the basics of this week’s cover story, which touches on Humboldt County’s jail, homelessness, drug addiction and mental illness. Read the full story here before you dive into a Facebook comments debate. This week the Journal took a deep dive into the recent $2.5 federal court verdict against […]
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‘The Hollow Men’
Before the arrest and the sobering cell, long before the civil rights lawsuit or the $2.5 million verdict, there was a call for help. It was shortly after 2 p.m. on June 13, 2014, and 42-year-old Daren Borges was in a bad way. Near the intersection of Seventh and D streets in Eureka, just down […]
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Federal Jury Hits County with $2.5 Million Wrongful Death Verdict
A federal jury in McKinleyville this afternoon awarded $2.5 million in damages to the family of a man who died at the Humboldt County jail in 2014, finding three correctional officers acted negligently when they failed to properly screen him before putting him in a sobering cell. The jury also found that the county failed […]
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UPDATE: Borges Attorneys Respond to DA’s Statement on Jail Death
Update: The attorneys representing Daren Borges’ mother responded to District Attorney Maggie Fleming’s press release from last week: Attorneys representing the mother of Daren Borges, retired Humboldt State University professor Stephany Borges, have issued a statement in response to the announcement by Humboldt County District Attorney Maggie Fleming that her office does not intend to […]
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DA Probing Borges Death
The Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office has initiated a review of the June 13, 2014 in-custody death of Daren Borges, who died hours after being booked into the county jail by Eureka police officers. Borges’ sister, Stephany Borges, filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit last week, alleging officers acted negligently in booking him into jail […]