Philadelphia Police Review Van Safety After Paying Out Nearly $500K Settlement

By Jim Melwert

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- After paying out a nearly a half of a million dollar settlement, Philadelphia police are reviewing safety of their vans.

A police force the size of Philadelphia's needs vans that can serve many different purposes says police Lt. John Stanford. "Assisting the M.E.'s office when there any point in time we need to transport a body to the medical examiner's office, we utilize for that, we utilize them in transporting some other types of equipment if we need to."

Because they need the space, the benches have been traditionally on the sides, with belts behind the prisoners so they can hold on when handcuffed.

But after a settlement was recently paid to a man who's neck was broken while he was in the back of a van, Stanford says they are looking for safer options.

"We're going to evaluate those particular wagons and take a look across the country at some of the other departments that are out there and see what they're utilizing and see what we can use in our department see what will be the best practice."

No timeline yet for changes.

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