The Denver City Council approved settlements payments Monday worth a combined $557,000 to an Arapahoe County man and his wife stemming from a 2019 incident in which a Denver police officer who was texting and driving struck him with her patrol vehicle as he walked along Colfax Avenue.

Eric Szakmary and his wife Kimberly filed a lawsuit against the city, the Denver Police Department and Officer Jamie Taft last year centered on the events of Sept. 17, 2019.

In the lawsuit, attorneys for the couple say Szakmary was in a crosswalk just after 11 a.m. that day when Taft made a left turn in the Denver Police Department SUV she was driving and hit him. Szakmary, who was 51 years old at the time, suffered serious injuries including fractures to two of his vertebrae and required several surgeries after the collision, according to the complaint.

An active bicyclist, hiker and backpacker before he was hit, complications from the collision left Szakmary with potentially permanent injuries that have affected him both at work and caused him to scale back or stop those leisure activities entirely, the lawsuit says.

Taft was suspended by the Denver Police Department for 33 days in relation to the incident. Her initial punishment was a 38-day suspension, but it was reduced after she appealed, according to a settlement agreement she signed with the city’s Department of Safety in October 2020.

She also pleaded guilty to a careless driving charge in relation to her hitting Szakmary though two other charges in the case were dismissed.

Video from her body-worn camera showed she was typing on her cellphone when she turned and struck Szakmary. A Denver Police Department investigation found that Taft “drove in a careless and imprudent manner without due regard for a pedestrian lawfully within the roadway.”

Taft resigned from the department in May 2022, officials said.

The settlements approved Monday were broken into two payments. The first, $387,000, is going to Eric Szakmary and is meant to settle his claims of negligence.

The second, for $170,000, will go to his wife Kimberly, according to city documents. In the lawsuit, there is a specific claim for relief focused on her loss of companionship and household services from her husband related to his injuries.

The couple was represented by the firm Taussig & Smith.

The City Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the payments on Monday afternoon.

The Associated Press contributed to this story. 

Updated Oct. 1, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. This story was updated to reflect that Jamie Taft is no longer a Denver police officer. 

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