County Offers Victim’s Widow $1.9 Million : Slaying: Sheriff also fires deputy who shot and killed unarmed victim he mistakenly thought was driving a stolen vehicle.

San Diego County officials have offered $1.9 million to Jeffrey Bray’s widow and baby daughter to settle their lawsuit against the county, and Sheriff Jim Roache has dismissed the deputy who fired the shot that killed the unarmed Bray.

Sources familiar with the negotiations between attorneys for San Diego County and Lena Bray, the widow of Jeffrey Bray, told The Times that she was offered $1.9 million to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit filed against the county and former Reserve Deputy John Wickham, who shot Bray.

Both sides are scheduled to meet in a settlement conference today, in which they are expected to agree on an amount for Lena Bray and her daughter, 4-month-old Amanda. The Brays’ attorney, Gerald Davee, said Wednesday, “I would consider it a fair possibility to wrap this up” Thursday, when they meet with U.S. Magistrate Curtis McKee.

Davee said he could not comment on reports of the $1.9 million settlement, but added, “You’re information is pretty close.” A county official who requested anonymity also said the $1.9-million figure “is pretty much in the ballpark.”

Attorney Dwight Ritter, who is representing Bray’s parents--Joe and Brenda Bray--in their wrongful death suit against the county, said today’s negotiations will also include the parents’ lawsuit. Ritter declined to comment on his negotiations with county lawyers, but sources said the $1.9 million wouldn’t cover a possible settlement with Bray’s parents.

In a telephone interview from the couple’s Conway, Ark. home, Joe Bray said he did not know the status of the negotiation. However, Bray said he and his wife are not concerned about how much they can collect in damages from the county.

“There’s not any amount of money that can bring my boy back. I’m not concerned with money. All I want is justice served,” said Joe Bray.

Meanwhile, Roache said he decided to dismiss Wickham, 31, for the good of the department. He declined to specify the exact reason for Wickham’s dismissal, but suggested that Wickham’s previous job performance played a role in his decision. Wickham had worked as a reserve peace officer for almost seven years.

Reserve officers are volunteers who help paid deputies as needed.

“The only thing I can tell you is that last month I reviewed Wickham’s personnel folder and decided it was appropriate and necessary that his services to the sheriff’s reserve force be terminated,” said Roache. “It would be accurate to indicate that the cumulative review of Wickham’s history with this department were taken into consideration.”

Wickham turned in his badge and other department-issued equipment Monday, Roach said. Wickham could not be reached for comment. A secretary at the Deputy Sheriff’s Assn. refered questions to the association’s attorney, Jim Gattey, who did not return several phone calls to his office Wednesday.

Bray, a 21-year-old construction worker, was killed May 10, as he drove his truck into the driveway of his apartment complex in Vista. Sheriff’s officials said that Wickham and his partner, Sheriff’s Deputy William C. Fewell, were following Bray because they mistakenly thought he was driving a stolen pickup truck. Bray was shot when he stopped and abruptly backed up, and deputies thought he was trying to ram their patrol car, sheriff’s officials said.

Witnesses told The Times that Wickham got out of the passenger side of the patrol car just as Bray accelerated backwards. Wickham fired three rounds from his 9-millimeter automatic handgun as Bray’s pickup truck collided with the car. One of the shots fired by Wickham struck Bray in the head, killing him instantly.

Fewell also got out of the patrol car and fired his own .357-caliber revolver at the truck.

The shooting of the unarmed Bray stirred considerable outrage, but Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller termed the killing legally justifiable and cleared Wickham of criminal wrongdoing in February. However, Miller also directed some criticism at Wickham, calling the shooting “regrettable and avoidable.”

In the report that cleared Wickham, Miller noted prior disciplinary action that had been taken against Wickham. He had been counseled in 1989 for inappropriately displaying a firearm, and his personnel file showed “a history of demonstrated exuberance, aggressiveness and overzealous behavior,” said Miller’s report.

Davee praised Roache’s decision to dismiss Wickham.

“I think it’s a good decision on the part of Roache . . . based on what I understand to be a record of overaggressive and heavy-handed enforcement. I think this is a cop that has been out of control. Somebody finally looked at him and said, ‘We can’t keep a guy like him around here,’ ” said Davee.

Joe Bray said he wished that the action could also be taken against Fewell.

“I want to see Wickham and Fewell get what’s coming to them. . . . My true deep-gut feeling is that Wickham should be in jail anyway. If it was me who was doing this to him, I would be in jail the day after it happened, if not sooner,” said Joe Bray.

Davee said that today’s settlement conference probably played a part in Roache’s decision to fire Wickham. Last week, Magistrate McKee ordered county officials to provide him with Wickham’s personnel folder, Davee said.

“The judge is supposed to get the folder (today). He will look at them first and then decide if its contents are relevant to the lawsuit. If so, he will make the file available to us. I have a feeling that the county doesn’t want us to see the file, and one way of avoiding this is by offering a settlement,” said Davee.

Supervisor Susan Golding said that negotiations with Jeffrey Bray’s widow and parents have been serious, but declined to say whether the county has made an offer to either side. Golding said a settlement cannot be made final until it is approved by the Board of Supervisors.

As to where the financially strapped county will get the money to settle any lawsuit, Golding answered:

“I don’t know. I really don’t know.”

Bray’s death is also being investigated by the state attorney general’s office, and an investigative report of the shooting by the FBI is being studied by the U.S. Justice Department to see if Bray’s civil rights were violated by Wickham and Fewell.

The attorney general’s office is conducting its investigation at the request of the County Grand Jury, which asked the state to review the “reasonableness” of Dist. Atty. Miller’s investigation and its findings.