East Hartford Settles High School Drowning Case For $1.5 Million [The Hartford Courant]

Jan. 17--EAST HARTFORD -- The town has agreed to pay a $1.5 million settlement to the family of a teenager who drowned in the high school pool last January.

The town council voted unanimously Tuesday in favor of the settlement, council Chairman Richard Kehoe said Wednesday. The town's insurer, Connecticut Interlocal Risk Management Agency, will pay $1 million, and the town will pay a $500,000 deductible, Kehoe said.

Marcum Asiamah, 15, drowned in the pool at East Hartford High School on Jan. 11, 2012. Town police investigated and applied for an arrest warrant charging a teacher with criminally negligent homicide and risk of injury to a minor, but prosecutors declined to sign the application.

"After a thorough and complete investigation by the police department, we believed that there were issues that did rise to the level of a criminal violation," police Chief Mark J. Sirois has said.

In a notice of intent to sue the town, Asiamah's family contended that his injuries "were the result of negligence."

Kehoe said that the town had to weigh the likelihood of success at trial with the potential for a huge damage award.

He called the settlement "a fair resolution." Ultimately, the $500,000 will come from the board of education's budget, he said.

Asiamah's aunt, Vida Kwofie, told The Courant at the time of the drowning that the teenager did not know how to swim and was looking forward to taking lessons that day during gym class.

But details surrounding the boy's death have remained a mystery. Town and school officials have repeatedly refused to comment and denied access to investigation records.

The lawyer for Asiamah's family, Carlton Hume, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Asiamah's death was the first of two drownings at high school pools in the state last year.

On Nov. 21, Malvrick Donkor, 14, was found at the bottom of the pool at Manchester High School and pronounced dead later that day. A source has told The Courant that Donkor was underwater for about 17 minutes before he was noticed, but police and school officials have declined to comment. A police investigation continues.

The drownings prompted school systems statewide to review pool safety, focusing on the lack of uniformity in safety policies.

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