Pubdate: Wed, 31 Dec 2008
Source: Tallahassee Democrat (FL)
Copyright: 2008 Tallahassee Democrat
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/hdEs6Z0o
Website: http://www.tallahassee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/444
Author: Jennifer Portman, Staff Writer
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n1134/a03.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/rachel+hoffman
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/police+informant

HOFFMAN PARENTS SUING TALLAHASSEE

Rachel Hoffman's parents say they are entitled to be paid by the city
for their pain and suffering in the wake of a drug-deal debacle that
ended with their only daughter being shot to death.

A lawsuit filed by the family's attorney Tuesday in Leon Circuit Court
lays out 17 charges of negligence by the Tallahassee Police Department
in its recruitment and handling of Hoffman. She was a novice informant
sent out alone by officers in May with $13,000 to buy cocaine, Ecstasy
and a handgun from two suspected drug dealers.

"Three words come to mind: Keystone Cop tragedy," said family attorney
Lance Block. "It is mind-boggling that there were so many acts of
incompetence by the TPD, combined with a cavalier lack of appreciation
for the high risk of danger that its officers were exposing Rachel
Hoffman to."

The city had sought to avoid a lawsuit by working with Irv Hoffman and
Margie Weiss of Pinellas County through mediation. Block said a
settlement could still be reached, but did not want to delay action.

City Attorney Jim English said that mediation remains the preferred
course.

"That can proceed regardless of the litigation," he said. "We'd
clearly like to settle it if we can do it in a fair and equitable manner."

The 14-page complaint, filed the day a required six-month waiting
period elapsed, does not specify how much money Hoffman's parents are
seeking.

But Block called the case huge.

"It is a multi-million dollar case," he said.

The city will have thirty days to respond to the parent's
lawsuit.

"I don't think there is anything new (in the lawsuit) that we didn't
already know," English said. "The bottom line is we are talking about
taxpayer money here. It's a tough time to be dealing with a claim."

The family is also seeking passage of legislation to provide greater
protections for police informants. A bill is expected to be filed in
the coming weeks.

"Rachel Hoffman's parents have suffered the worst kind of loss a human
being can endure: the loss of their only child," Block said. "The
passage of Rachel's law and just compensation that sufficiently places
the TPD and other law enforcement agencies on notice that what
happened to Rachel is totally unacceptable are the only means our
system offers the family to make sure that her death will not be in
vain."

If a settlement or judgment in excess of $200,000 is reached, it will
have to be approved through a claims bill passed by the state
Legislature. Such a place-holder bill has already been filed by state
Sen. Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee.

Andrea Green, 26, of Perry, and Deneilo Bradshaw, 23, of Tallahassee,
are in the Leon County Jail awaiting trial for Hoffman's murder.

But police also have been condemned for their handling of the
operation, which involved sending the 23-year-old out alone to meet
with the suspected dealers and then losing her, despite having 19
officers in the area.

A Leon County grand jury in a scathing report earlier this year said
that police were negligent in her death.

Reviews by both the state Attorney General's Office and the
department's Internal Affairs Division found officers violated TPD's
own policies and procedures.

Hoffman's main contact, Investigator Ryan Pender, was fired for his
role and four supervisors were suspended for two-weeks without pay.
Pender is fighting his termination.

As a father and grandfather, English said he sympathizes with
Hoffman's family.

But, he said: "We have to remember, the citizens of Tallahassee and
the officers didn't kill Rachel Hoffman."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin