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Estate of victim in West Haven murder-suicide settles suit for $3M

HARTFORD—A Connecticut city where police officers and dispatchers were accused of negligence and ethnic discrimination in the response to what became a murder-suicide in 2010 has agreed to settle a lawsuit by the victim’s family for $3 million.

The estate of Turkish immigrant Shengyl Rasim sued West Haven and its police department in federal court in 2011. The estate’s lawyer, Joel Faxon, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that a settlement has been reached and is pending probate court approval.

The city’s lawyer didn’t return a message Tuesday.

The 25-year-old Rasim was fatally shot by her husband, 42-year-old Selami Ozdemir, hours after Ozdemir was arrested on a domestic violence complaint and posted bail. Ozdemir then killed himself.

The case spurred changes in state domestic violence laws.

A report on the murder-suicide by the State’s Attorney’s Office in May 2010 “uncovered several troubling revelations” about the incident, including that 911 tapes showed dispatchers did not communicate important information to police officers who responded to the scene.

Two police officers and two dispatchers were later docked vacation time after an internal affairrs investigation found they mishandled the response to the incident.

Rasim’s family sued the police department, the dispatchers and the officers in March 2011. The suit was withdrawn and refiled two months later with former Police Chief Colleen Smullen included on the list of defendants.

In February 2013, the state’s victim advocate criticized the state’s attorney’s office, saying prosecutors had failed to protect Rasim by allowing him to Family Violence Education Program for a previous arrest even though he had a criminal history.

Milford State’s Attorney Kevin D. Lawlor strongly criticized that report, saying parts of it were inaccurate.

In September 2014, a judge ruled the lawsuit by Rasim’s family should proceed to trial.