By Paul Leighton
Staff writer
May 06, 2008 06:00 am BEVERLY — The estate of a retired police officer's daughter has filed a $10 million lawsuit against the city and three Beverly police officers, claiming the officers failed to prevent her suicide. The lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court in Boston, says the officers turned a distraught Danielle Tarsook over to her father, then-Sgt. Dennis Tarsook, in the parking lot of Beverly Hospital instead of making sure she was admitted to the hospital for treatment. Later that day, on May 18, 2005, 19-year-old Danielle Tarsook committed suicide in her Cabot Street apartment. "Danielle's untimely and tragic death ... (was) a direct and proximate result of the breach of procedures, acts and omissions of Beverly Police Department, the city of Beverly, and the defendant officers," the lawsuit charges. City officials have known since last year that a lawsuit was coming. Beverly Tarsook, Danielle's mother, wrote a letter to the city in May 2007 notifying them of her intention to sue. Capt. John DiVincenzo and Detectives Richard Ganey and David Richardson, the three officers who responded to a 911 call regarding Danielle Tarsook, are named as individual defendants, along with the city of Beverly as their employer. Mayor Bill Scanlon declined to comment on the lawsuit. Police Chief Mark Ray could not be reached for comment. In an unusual twist to the case, Dennis Tarsook could either become a defendant or stand to benefit from damages awarded by a jury. Thomas Fallon, Dennis Tarsook's lawyer, said Dennis and Beverly Tarsook are the two beneficiaries of their daughter's estate. The couple divorced in 2003. Louis Muggeo, Beverly Tarsook's lawyer, said the two sides agreed to appoint a local lawyer, Celeste Niarchos, as administrator of the estate, "but we left open the question as to whether (Dennis Tarsook) has any rights." Muggeo said there's a possibility that Dennis Tarsook could become a defendant as the case moves along. Beverly Tarsook has claimed that her ex-husband bears responsibility for their daughter's death by failing to ensure she received medical treatment on the day she committed suicide. Fallon said Dennis Tarsook should never have been put in the position of making a decision about his own daughter. By calling Dennis Tarsook that day, he said, police violated their policy that prohibits officers from intervening in incidents involving relatives. That policy was adopted in December 2004 after a police officer, Raymond Beals, responded to a domestic 911 call involving his son. Three days later, the son killed his girlfriend and himself. "Dennis Tarsook should not have been put into a situation where he's being asked to render an objective decision on someone who's his own daughter," Fallon said. Dennis Tarsook retired in 2006 after more than 20 years with the Beverly Police Department. He is remarried and living in North Andover. Fallon said Dennis Tarsook plans to file his own lawsuit against the Beverly Police Department. According to the lawsuit filed on Friday, Danielle Tarsook's boyfriend, Matthew Lewis, called 911 on the morning of May 18, 2005, to report that Danielle was threatening to commit suicide. DiVincenzo, Ganey and Richardson responded to her apartment on Cabot Street and saw that Danielle was crying. After interviewing her, they drove her to Beverly Hospital "so she could speak to staff," the lawsuit quoted the police report as saying. The officers and Danielle were met in the hospital parking lot by Dennis Tarsook. It is not clear how Dennis Tarsook was made aware of his daughter's situation that day, according to the lawsuit. Instead of making sure Danielle received the proper medical care, the officers turned her over to the care of her father, the lawsuit says. Later that day, Danielle committed suicide. The lawsuit says the officers failed to follow Beverly Police Department procedures, which say an officer who takes a mentally ill person into custody "should only release the person to a proper mental health facility." "They consciously disregarded a great risk of serious harm to Danielle," the lawsuit says. The lawsuit also claims the city and the Beverly Police Department failed to properly train officers in suicide prevention and emergency procedures.
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