Local News in Brief : Choke Case Payment OKd

A federal judge has approved the last portion of a $900,000 tentative settlement by Los Angeles in the case of a man who died after a police officer placed him in a chokehold.

U.S. District Judge Robert M. Takasugi authorized payment of $187,500 to James Mincey III, a 5-year-old who was still unborn when his father, James Mincey Jr., 20, of Lake View Terrace, died in police custody in 1982.

The settlement, which does not become final unless the City Council approves it, also awards legal fees and $575,000 to other family members who were plaintiffs in the original $62-million lawsuit.

Mincey, a Los Angeles school employee who apparently had a long history of violent crime, fled officers who were trying to stop him for driving with a broken windshield. Eventually, 10 officers attempted to subdue Mincey, and one applied a carotid chokehold. Mincey lost consciousness and died 13 days later.