A $750,000 settlement is pending in a federal wrongful death suit filed by the family of former Rhea County Executive George Thacker against the federal government over Thacker’s 2022 in-custody death at a federal prison camp in South Carolina.
Thacker’s daughter and the executor of his estate, April Wesolowski, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Carolina have reached an agreement for the U.S. government to pay $750,000 in the wrongful death action, according to court documents. A petition was filed Tuesday seeking the court’s final approval on the settlement.
(READ MORE: Family cries foul in former Rhea County executive’s death in federal prison)
Wesolowski is represented by Columbia, South Carolina, attorneys Mario A. Pacella, Amy E. Willbanks and Bakari T. Sellers in the suit filed in July 2024, court records show. The suit, which did not seek specific damages, names the United States of America as the liable defendant for the Federal Prison Camp in Edgefield, South Carolina, where Thacker died Dec. 26, 2022.
The parties agreed to seek mediation in the case Dec. 16.