Council Urged to Pay $1.5 Million in Ambulance Crash

A Los Angeles City Council panel Tuesday recommended paying $1.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by four teen-agers injured in 1986 when their van was struck by a city paramedic ambulance as it raced through a red light in Woodland Hills on an emergency call.

Budget and Finance Committee members were warned by the city attorney’s office that evidence of city liability was overwhelming and that the city’s potential costs might be considerably greater than the proposed $1.5-million settlement if the case went to trial.

“It’s very sad, and I don’t think there’s any action to take but to settle,” said Councilwoman Joy Picus, finance panel member, after hearing a city attorney’s report on the accident.

The full City Council must ratify the settlement.

The four plaintiffs were Taft High School students at the time of the accident, said Encino attorney Richard A. Schwartz, who represented plaintiff Sandra Isaacs. Isaacs, now a college student, would be awarded $150,000.

The other three plaintiffs and the proposed monetary settlements for each are: Michelle Rose, $1.1 million; Christopher Mahoney, $250,000; and Julie Lynn Revel, $75,000. Mahoney was 16 at the time of the accident and the others were 15.

The four were passengers in a van driven by Jade Rowland, 17, when it was struck by a city ambulance at Oxnard Street and De Soto Avenue on May 2, 1986.

A Los Angeles Police Department investigation determined that the ambulance was traveling between 38 and 49 m.p.h. on an emergency call and had its sirens and red lights operating at the time of the collision.

A city attorney’s report found that Los Angeles city Fire Department policy requires emergency vehicles to come to a full stop before entering an intersection against a red light, which the driver did not do.

The California Vehicle Code permits an emergency vehicle to run a red light only when it is safe to do so and at a speed not to exceed 15 m.p.h., the report noted.

Given the “overwhelming evidence” of city liability, the city attorney’s office recommended settlement.

Rose still needs major surgery--which can be performed by only a few doctors in the nation--to reconstruct her trachea, the report said. It said Mahoney sustained severe neurological injuries that still affect his coordination. Ravel suffered a fractured neck and still experiences neck pains. Isaacs received broken bones and cuts.