Settlement in Death of Jail Trusty Approved : Lawsuit: Survivors of man killed when a parking lot gate fell on him at the Santa Clarita Valley sheriff’s station will receive $205,000.

The Los Angeles County Claims Board on Monday approved a $205,000 settlement for the family of a jail trusty who was killed more than five years ago when a sliding steel gate pinned him to the ground at a sheriff’s station parking lot.

David Alviso, 37, died in October, 1985, while pulling the gate closed in the parking lot behind the Santa Clarita Valley station. Alviso, who was completing a sentence for driving under the influence of alcohol, had been working with another trusty when the heavy gate fell on him, according to county officials.

Alviso died at the scene. His survivors--his wife, mother and a now 14-year-old son--filed a wrongful death suit against the county.

In agreeing to settle the lawsuit, the claims board unanimously recommended that the county Board of Supervisors approve the $205,000 payment to the Alviso family. The supervisors, who are required to review any settlement of more than $100,000, are expected to consider the issue in two weeks.

The claims board, meanwhile, postponed its decision on a $325,000 proposed settlement in the case of a Venice man who says his civil rights were violated in a jail incident on Jan. 25, 1990.

John Franklin Weaver, 38, who was arrested on a traffic charge that day, claims that sheriff’s deputies at the Men’s Central Jail took him into an isolation cell, beat him with flashlights and kicked him repeatedly in the side.

After he was released from jail, Weaver was taken to a private hospital complaining of abdominal pain, and he later underwent surgery to remove his spleen.

Despite the allegations of excessive force, the deputies named in the lawsuit contend that Weaver was taken to the isolation cell only after he became verbally abusive and refused to obey instructions. They also maintain that reasonable force was used to subdue him.

Weaver’s attorney, John C. Burton, declined to discuss the pending settlement.

Nancy Singer, who heads the claims board, also declined to discuss specifics except to say that the panel delayed its decision for two weeks to obtain additional information.