San Diego

The San Diego City Council Monday agreed to pay $1 million to the family of a man who was permanently brain-damaged when his motorcycle hit an unmarked highway median in South San Diego more than four years ago.

Rodney Boyd Carlson, who was stationed at North Island Naval Air Station at the time of the accident, also will receive $2,000 a month for life from an annuity purchased by an insurance company which covered the city at the time.

The award is the second large personal-injury settlement approved by the council in less than a week. Last Wednesday, the council agreed to pay $9.5 million--by far the largest liability settlement in city history--to a woman who was permanently brain damaged when her car was struck by a speeding police vehicle.

Carlson was injured when the motorcycle he was riding hit the unpainted, unmarked, black asphalt median in the 2200 block of Main Street, near Interstate 5, in darkness on April 7, 1985, said Deputy City Atty. Sim von Kalinowski. Carlson, who was not wearing a helmet, suffered severe head injuries that left him a quadriplegic with the mental ability of a small child, Von Kalinowski said.

Carlson, who requires 24-hour care, is living in a Veterans Administration facility in his native Iowa, Von Kalinowski said.

The council approved the $1-million payment in a closed session Jan. 24, but delayed a routine open session confirmation of that vote until its insurance carrier agreed to the $2,000 monthly payments, Von Kalinowski said.