Dade and Broward County Injury News

Settlement Reached in Wrongful Death Case


Posted on Dec 22, 2008

The Broward Sheriff’s Office reached a $2 million settlement in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Todd Fatta, a sheriff’s detective killed in 2004 during a botched 2004 raid.

The family will receive $200,000 from the Sheriff’s Office, which is the maximum amount allowed under the state’s sovereign immunity law.  The remaining $1.8 million will be a claims bill that will go before the state Legislature for approval.  The settlement occurred just days before jury selection was supposed to start for the civil case.

As part of the agreement, the Sheriff’s Office will acknowledge its role that it played in the events leading up to Fatta’s death.  There are no details on what the acknowledgement will entail.

Fatta was killed on August 19, 2004 when Sheriff’s deputies attempted to capture Kenneth Wilk, an armed police-hating suspect who was facing child pornography charges.  Wilk shot Fatta once in the chest with a Winchester rifle and wounded Sgt. Angelo Cedeno.  He was later convicted of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison.

The family of Todd Fatta has argued that he would not have died if the Sheriff’s Office had followed its own protocol and had members of its special-response unit execute the raid.  The plaintiff’s attorneys argued that then Sheriff Ken Jenne’s administration fostered a culture of fear and intimidation which made people afraid to question superiors’ commands.  Jenne admitted in a sworn statement that Fatta wouldn’t have been killed if the agency had followed its own policies.

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