A woman whose Denver home caught fire during an hourslong SWAT team standoff with her son is set to receive $95,000 to settle a lawsuit she filed in the aftermath of the incident.
The Denver City Council approved the settlement Monday afternoon, ending a case stemming from an unusual incident that played out five years ago just south of downtown. Mary Quintana’s son shot and wounded two Denver police officers, and the standoff ended after Joseph Quintana shot himself. He died the next day.
Denver police entered the house at 622 Inca St. on Jan. 27, 2019, to arrest 35-year-old Joseph Quintana on an outstanding warrant after receiving a call reporting shots fired in the area.
When one officer went down to the basement, Quintana shot him, striking him in a Kevlar vest protecting his abdomen, according to the lawsuit first filed by Mary Quintana’s attorneys in January 2020. In an exchange of gunfire that followed, another officer was struck in the leg, according to that suit.
Both officers survived their injuries.
In the ensuing standoff, SWAT officers used chemical grenades to help neutralize Joseph Quintana, a decision they communicated to their command center, according to the suit. Several rounds of chemical agents were tossed into the home inside ammunition boxes meant to contain them.
A short time later, the house burst into flames.
According to the lawsuit, a Denver Fire Department report determined that the cause of the fire was a chemical grenade designed specifically for outdoor use due to its “fire-producing capability.”
Shortly after the fire started, Joseph Quintana shot himself. He was taken to a hospital, where he died the next morning. Officials ruled his death a suicide.
Among the claims in Mary Quintana’s lawsuit was that Denver police — including then-Chief Paul Pazen and three officers — acted negligently during the standoff. It alleged that the department did not properly train officers on the use of chemical grenades. Quintana also sought compensation for being detained by police for six hours during the standoff.
A federal appeals court in March ruled that Denver police officers Justin Dodge and Richard Eberharter were immune from legal liability. The three-judge panel found that their action during the standoff did not amount to a willful or wanton disregard for the harm that could be done by their actions.
When reached by phone Monday, Quintana’s attorney, Joe Salazar, declined to discuss how the two sides arrived at the $95,000 settlement’s amount. In an interview with a Denver Post reporter in 2020, Salazar noted that Quintana’s insurance company had paid a portion of the cost of rebuilding her home, but not all of it.
“This matter is finally resolved,” Salazar said Monday.
Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.
Originally Published:
