Jury Awards Paraplegic $7.65 Million From City

A woman who was paralyzed when she was hit by a car in a police chase has won a $7.65-million verdict against the city of Los Angeles, the largest amount ever awarded in a liability case against the city, officials said Wednesday.

The woman, Susan Tartakoff, 41, was paralyzed from the chest down in 1985 when a car that had been traveling as fast as 100 miles an hour slammed into her car at an intersection in Chatsworth, according to police.

In a lawsuit filed in Superior Court, Tartakoff claimed the car was being chased by Los Angeles police officers who failed to turn on their squad car’s siren.

Tartakoff was a computer programmer at Universal Studios. She has spent the years since the crash in extensive physical therapy, but remains paralyzed from the chest down.

“My whole life has changed,” Tartakoff said Wednesday as she underwent physical therapy in a Beverly Hills clinic. “I haven’t been able to work. . . . My quest is to get back on my feet.”

Tartakoff said she spends four hours a day, six days a week in physical therapy. She has progressed from being unable to get out of bed to moving herself half a mile a day around her home in Northridge with the help of special braces.

“Not being able to walk is not the only thing,” Tartakoff said. “Bowels and bladder don’t function. . . .

“Since the accident I have a lot of pain, from the minute I get up to when I go to bed at night.”

A Superior Court jury deliberated most of last week before agreeing on the award, according to Tartakoff’s attorney, Tim Wheeler. The jury awarded her $7 million and her husband, Ray, $675,000 for loss of consortium, Wheeler said. The couple have no children.

Wheeler said evidence at the trial showed that police chased the speeding car, driven by a 19-year-old, for more than 1 1/2 miles before it slammed into Tartakoff’s car about 8 p.m. on Jan. 11, 1985.

The driver, Douglas Gray of Panorama City, ran a red light at the intersection of Devonshire Street and Winnetka Avenue, where the collision occurred.

The police officers denied they were chasing Gray’s car at the time of the crash, according to John T. Neville, head of the civil liability section of the city attorney’s office.

The officers had noticed Gray driving in circles before he spotted them and sped away, Neville said. But they either decided not to chase him or abandoned the chase before the collision, Neville said.

A decision on whether to appeal the verdict will be made after post-trial motions are heard, Neville said.

Neville and Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky said that it is the highest liability loss for the city.

The huge award is the latest in a series of unexpectedly costly awards and settlements against the city.

The city had budgeted $15 million for such losses in this year, which ends June 30, but more than $20 million has already been spent, said Yaroslavsky, chairman of the Finance Committee.

With only $5 million left in the city’s reserve fund, it is unclear where the money to pay the Tartakoff award will come from, he said.

“If we have to go to the reserve fund, it’s not there,” Yaroslavsky said. “These bills are flying at us like missiles from every direction.”

The money may have to come from funds set aside for other city programs, such as recycling, he said.

Gray also was a defendant in the suit and his insurance may pay for some of the award, Wheeler said.

Wheeler said the police officers violated Police Department pursuit policies by not turning on their sirens during the chase.

The two police officers involved in the incident, Jay Phillips and David Perry, have not been disciplined by the department, Cmdr. William Booth said.

Booth declined to comment on the specifics of the case because litigation may not be over. Under department policy, he said, officers in pursuit in squad cars must turn on their red lights and sirens. But he said that if officers are simply following a car with no intention of stopping it, lights and sirens are not necessary.

Gray, who had minor injuries, was convicted in 1986 of driving under the influence of drugs as well as other charges stemming from the incident and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Tartakoff said Wednesday she had been on her way home from a video store with some rented movies.

As she crossed the intersection, she had a green light and did not see Gray’s car coming toward her, she said.

According to her attorney, eyewitnesses said the police were at the scene within seconds of the crash.

Tartakoff said she is not yet counting on the money because of possible appeals.

“I’ve had ups and downs,” she said. “But I’ve got to keep going ahead with this. . . . It’s not over yet. It’s not over yet.”