officers - The Black Vault

1 has
1
of
• I
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tty p~li~;~fi~~r ir{- 1SS7~~d-le_f_t -a-- in the filing of charges. Two of the
tparaplegic. Adelaido Altamirano incidents-a drunk driving arrest
1 was awarded $8.75 million by a and an altercation with his wife­
!· jury, but accepted a $5.5-million occurred this summer, after the
settlement last year rather than City 'Council had already begun
risk losing the judgment on appeal. debating the proposed settlement.
\ Most of the other liability cases Although negotiations in civil
1 in which the city :\las agreed to lawsuits are often largely about
1 multimillion-dollar settlements. posturing and rhetoric, with neil
have involved plaintiffs who died, ther side eager to be pinned dow~
suffered brain damage or were left to a specific dollar figure, efforts to
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confined to a wheelchair. In many find a.compromise in the King case
':of those incidents, the injuries were seem to have hit an impasse.
sustained during traffic accidents King's lawyer said he was especially
frustrated because he
:in which the city was accused of
1
negligence.
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Attorney ·Stephen Yagman, who
won numerous brutality judg­
: ments against the city, said any
i injuries suffered in the incident
\ should not be the predominant
: factor in determining a settlement.
: Rather, he said, the dollar amount
1
should be based on the signal that
, the city wants to send. .
: "There is no other case like this
and there never will be," said
Yagman, who believes the King
case could draw as much as $10
, million from a jury. "It is an
! opportunity for the city of Los
Angeles to ·say: This is really
' terrible, it never should have happenl'!d
and we're really sorry."
1 King's case is further complicat­
, ed, experts say, by the fact that his
~- injuries were suffered at the hands
police officers accused of acting
: criminally. Some attorneys believe
the prospects for King's civil lawsuit
were hurt when the officers
' were found not guilty in April by a
Simi Valley jury. But there is still
another criminal case pending
against them in U.S. District Court
that must be completed before the
· lawsuit can go to trial.
, Meanwhile, King has had four
I other scrapes with the law since
~ the beatin~,~~o~~ o~ w~~h_re_~u_l~~d
believed that a deal had been
struck with· the city attorney to
settle the case for $5.9 million-an
amount that the city attorney had
endorsed to avoid a long and costly
trial. ·
The city attorney's office confirmed
that officials had agreed to a
proposed settlement with King. '
But they said all such agreements
are subject: to approval by the City
Council, which has responsibility
for authorizing the payment of anY
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municipalfunds exceeding.$15,000.
"There was an agreement
reached and it was 'recommended
to the City Council," said· Deputy
City Atty. Don Vincent, supervisor
of the police litigation unit. "Everything
was done in good faith
... but they have the final say."
After learning of the proposed
settlement in late June, the council :
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asked for additional details on the
extent of King's ·injuries, which
some officials contended were not ,
as severe as originally believer· By
the time council members tet
again Tuesday to consider . he
agreement, "it was pretty evident
that it was dead on arrival," Yaro- ,
1
slavsky said. ·
During the hourlong meeting, :
Yaroslavsky proposed giving King 1
a lump sum of ·$250,000 and putting ,
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$1 million in an investment fund
that would pay him about $75,000
annually for the rest of his life.
Should the 27-year-old King die,
early, his heirs would be guaranteed
payments for 20 years,
amounting to $1.75 million. The
proposal was approved 9 to 3.
"I don't fault the c1ty attorney 1
1
for recommending" the $5.9-mil-1
lion settlement, Yaroslavsky said.
"We wanted him to come back\
with a what-would-it-take-to~
settle-the-case. That was the bes_t·
he could do. It's not 'his fault. It's a
very sensitive case."
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