THE SIDELINES : D.C.’s Capital Centre Is Sued

The mother-in-law of former Washington Bullets coach Kevin Loughery has filed a $500,000 suit against the Capital Centre after she was crushed by an “obese and drunken” man at a 1987 game.

The suit filed this week by Julia Quinlan said the unidentified man lunged forward to retrieve an airborne basketball that was thrown into the crowd as part of a promotion by the Delicious Cookie Co. at a game between the Bullets and Boston on Dec. 15, 1987.

Quinlan, 73, a Valley Cottage, N.Y., resident and Loughery’s guest at the game, was hospitalized for two broken vertebrae, forcing her to stay in the Washington area for several months to recuperate.

The woman said in court papers that she still suffers from back pains.

The suit charges that the basketball giveaway “posed an unreasonable . . . risk of harm to patrons, particularly in light of the fact that alcohol was sold and consumed on the arena’s premises,” attorney William Mulroney said.

Capital Centre officials could not be reached for comment.