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News Release for Immediate Release
March 8, 2007

Mayor Fenty Announces the District’s Settlement With the Rosenbaum Family

Today, at the tree planted in Northwest Washington to memorialize New York Times journalist David E. Rosenbaum, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced that the city has reached a settlement agreement with the Rosenbaum family.

“I am both honored and humbled to stand with the Rosenbaum family today. Mr. Rosenbaum’s death is yet another tragic reminder that we must do better. We must do more to address violent crimes in the District, and we must do more to improve the way DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services (FEMS) responds to medical emergencies,” said Mayor Fenty. “This agreement with the Rosenbaum family will be followed to the letter, and we will do everything in our power to make certain this does not happen to another family.”

The settlement agreement, negotiated by Acting Attorney General Linda Singer, ends all claims by the Rosenbaum family against the District.  The settlement requires:

  • The creation of a task force that will investigate the circumstances surrounding the response of the Districts Fire and Emergency Medical Services
  • The members of the task force will be agreed to by the family and the District of Columbia government, and will include representatives of the District government, the family, and outside experts in emergency medical services. The members of that task force will be announced shortly
  • The task force will complete its investigation and issue a report with recommendations for improving the delivery of emergency medical services by the DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department within six (6) months from today
  • The case against the District of Columbia will be dismissed without prejudice and will automatically be dismissed with prejudice in one year unless the family moves to reinstitute the case, which they may do at their discretion if they are not satisfied with the District’s implementation of the task force recommendations
  • Also, the District wi