Columbine Killing Suit Is Settled

The daughter of a teacher who bled to death during the 1999 Columbine High School shootings has reached a $1.5-million settlement in her lawsuit against the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff’s office admitted no wrongdoing in the agreement announced Tuesday and both sides still disagree about whether more could have been done to help the teacher, Dave Sanders.

The daughter, Angela Sanders, said she is satisfied that law enforcement agencies nationally have changed the way they respond to mass shootings because of the April 20, 1999, Columbine massacre, which left Sanders, 12 students and their teen killers dead.

She said commanders, not police officers and sheriff’s deputies, mishandled the response.

“Decisions were made that meant my dad didn’t get the help he needed when he needed it, and I wanted to make sure that nothing like that ever happened to anyone else’s dad again,” she said.

Sanders, 47, was shot twice in the shoulder as he shepherded students from the school’s library.

The lawsuit alleged that deputies stopped students and teachers from trying to rescue Sanders. The suit also claimed that sheriff’s officials did nothing to help him even after they learned the gunmen, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, were dead.

Sanders’ lawsuit was the only one brought by relatives of Columbine victims that was not thrown out by a federal judge last year.

In his ruling allowing the suit to move forward, Judge Lewis Babcock said sheriff’s officials demonstrated “a deliberate indifference toward Dave Sanders’ plight shocking to the conscience of this federal court.”

Assistant County Atty. Bill Tuthill said the sheriff’s office’s insurer, which he did not name, decided to settle.