MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee County paid nearly $7 million to settle a lawsuit from the family of a man whose dehydration death in jail was described by his attorneys as torture. Attorneys for 38-year-old Terrill Thomas called the settlement one of the largest ever in Wisconsin for a jail death. Tuesday was the first time they publicly announced the settlement, but it was finalized in March. The lawsuit was dismissed earlier this month. Thomas’ family has said he was having a mental breakdown when police arrested him April 14, 2016, for shooting a man in front of his parents’ house and later firing a gun inside a casino. At the jail, Thomas had water to his cell shut off as punishment because he had flooded his previous cell by stuffing a mattress in the toilet. The water was never turned back on and he died a week later. He lost 34 pounds (15.5 kilograms), or 10 percent of his body weight, during the week he was deprived of water, according to the lawsuit. Heipt said the settlement money will be split among Thomas’ six children, including four minors.
