SAN ANTONIO — The family of a 66-year-old man strangled by a Bexar County inmate who was sharing his holding cell has settled with the county for $2.4 million.
Dallas-based Law Offices of Dean Malone filed a 69-page lawsuit on behalf of Curtis Smith's loved ones last summer, claiming his death at the hands of Mark Wong was a byproduct of "significant issues" at the jail in regards to "staffing, conditions and deaths."
Wong was behind bars in August 2021 for a shooting and had been in custody for mere hours before authorities said he killed Smith, who himself was in jail as a result of not abiding by the terms he was given for a probated sentence on a domestic violence charge, according to court records.
Arrest records said the two men, along with a third inmate, were together in a booking holding cell and that another inmate nearby alerted jail staff to a problem. Smith was found face down and unresponsive on the floor of the cell; an affidavit states Wong told investigators he twisted a bandana around the victim’s neck until he was unconscious and appeared dead.
The lawsuit claimed all the inmates were allowed to remain in street clothes, alleging that resulted in Smith's death.
"The lawsuit hopefully gained the attention of those who can make changes in the Bexar County jail," a press release from the Dean Malone law offices stated. "No reasonable person would have put Curtis into that situation."
Three people have died at the Bexar County jail so far this year, including two who succumbed to medical episodes in separate incidents less than 24 hours apart last week.
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