Parents of Man Slain by Police Settle Suit for $1 Million

The parents of a schizophrenic man who was shot and killed by a Hawthorne police officer hours after escaping from the psychiatric ward of a local hospital have accepted $1 million to settle a lawsuit filed against the city and several of its employees earlier this year.

Attorneys for the parents of Terrence Williams, 20, said they would have agreed to a settlement of $750,000 if the city had fired Officer Joseph Luper, who killed their son after a scuffle in which Luper suffered a broken nose. The city, however, refused to fire Luper.

“I think the public would have been better served if they paid less money and fired the officer,” said Stephen Yagman, an attorney for Williams’ parents, Loretta Brown and Naymon Williams. “But cities, unfortunately, condone this kind of conduct by backing the officers up to the hilt, no matter how depraved the officers.”

Brown and Naymon declined to comment, but they are “outraged” that Luper is still on the police force, said Benjamin Schonbrun, another lawyer for the family.

The district attorney’s office, which has been investigating the shooting since last year, has not yet decided whether to prosecute Luper or his partner, Paul Neizert. Neither officer has been disciplined by the Hawthorne Police Department.

City Atty. Michael Adamson, who described Yagman’s comments as “a grandstanding ploy,” said Luper shot Williams in self-defense and that the city has no grounds to fire him. Adamson also said the settlement was “out of the city’s hands” because it was negotiated by the city’s insurance company.

The city has a $10-million liability insurance policy with Independent Cities Risk Management Authority. Under the policy, the city must pay a $250,000 deductible and the company will pay the balance of the settlement, Adamson said.

“(Yagman) is an attorney. He knows you can’t fire somebody on no basis and ruin their career just to save a little money,” Adamson said.

Hawthorne Police Chief Stephen Port declined to comment, saying he wasn’t aware the city had settled the case.

Yagman compared the conduct of Hawthorne police to that of the Los Angeles Police Department, which has been under fire for the beating of Rodney G. King. “They’re smaller and just as brutal,” Yagman said of the Hawthorne department.

He also said Hawthorne police should be monitored by an independent police commission similar to the Christopher Commission, which recently investigated the Los Angeles Police Department.

The settlement marks the second time since mid-1990 that Hawthorne’s insurance company has paid at least $1 million to settle allegations of brutality and misconduct against its police officers. In May, 1990, the city paid $1.95 million to members of the Vagos motorcycle club, who claimed their constitutional rights were violated during several police raids in 1983.

Williams, who was hospitalized briefly for schizophrenia in 1988 but had not been taking medication for his condition, was brought to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center by family members on July 1, 1990, for an evaluation.

Williams soon became extremely agitated and assaulted a security guard at the hospital before escaping. A few hours later, police confronted Williams as he was preparing to drive away from the Hawthorne home he shared with his mother.

What happened next is disputed by attorneys for the city and Williams’ parents.

The city’s attorneys say Williams refused to cooperate with police and became so combative that he broke Luper’s nose and slightly injured Neizert before fleeing on foot. They say Luper was justified in using deadly force because Williams lunged at him when his gun was drawn.

But Schonbrun denies that Williams assaulted the officers and contends they beat him with nunchakus and batons before shooting him.

A witness, who has never been named, said he saw Williams put his hands up in a gesture of surrender moments before Luper fired his gun, Schonbrun said.

Williams, who was shot seven times in the head and upper body, died at the scene. He was unarmed.

In July, Williams’ parents filed a $10-million federal civil rights lawsuit against the city, the two officers and several city employees, including Chief Port, alleging that the officers had a “racially motivated bias” against Williams, who was black. The suit also alleged that the officers had used excessive force against Williams and that they had conspired to deprive him of his civil rights.

The conspiracy charges, however, were dismissed from the case, as were all the defendants except Luper and Neizert.