Verdict Brings Donations to ‘Hero’ Cabbie : Courts: Jury award of nearly $25,000 to mugger who was run down by taxi driver outrages some citizens and spurs offers of aid.

Was Holden Charles Hollom a hero who adroitly used his taxicab to chase and pin a fleeing mugger to a building wall?

Or, as the mugger’s lawyer later put it, was Hollom an overzealous “cowboy” who needlessly fractured the assailant’s leg in the capture?

Whatever the answer, a $24,595 civil jury award to the mugger last week sparked a burst of protests and raised questions about a legal system that seemed to have gone crazy by favoring the criminal over the good citizen.

At week’s end, Hollom had pledged to appeal the verdict. And outraged citizens had donated more than $25,000 to the cabdriver.

“I’ll take this case at least to the point where the law is explained,” the affable, 51-year-old cabbie said. “I’ve had no second thoughts about what I did. The right to sue is as inviolate as the right to free speech. But we have to do something to lighten and tighten our legal system.”

Although some of the outrage over the verdict may stem from a view of Hollom as a good Samaritan, the Good Samaritan Doctrine--which offers legal protection to a bystander who comes to the aid of a person in distress--was not raised in Hollom’s defense. Under the doctrine, a bystander who assists a person in distress cannot be sued unless the bystander recklessly worsens the condition of that person. Hollom was chasing the culprit, not aiding the victim.

The central issue in the unusual case was whether Hollom used excessive force in apprehending Ocie James McClure, who pleaded guilty to robbery in the May, 1989, mugging of a tourist and is serving a 10-year prison term.

Scott Sundby, a criminal law professor at Hastings College of the Law, notes that citizens can arrest felons and use “reasonable and necessary” force to detain them--the same general standard applied to police. But what is reasonable is largely up to a jury.

“I shared with most people the feeling of disbelief when I first read about the verdict,” Sundby said. “But it’s important to keep in mind that we weren’t in the courtroom, we didn’t hear the evidence and the people who decided this were 12 people like you and me--not some criminal-coddling judge.”

Hollom’s lawyers contend that his actions were reasonable under the circumstances: The mugger’s victim, a 24-year-old tourist from Japan, was knocked to the ground as McClure grabbed her purse and she was taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries. The cabbie, reacting instinctively in the heat of the moment, set off in pursuit.

“This was not just a simple purse-snatching,” said Damien Morozumi of San Francisco, an attorney for Hollom. “This was a robbery, a violent crime, and later there was a conviction for it.”

But the attorney for McClure contends that the cabdriver should have called police or followed the assailant only until authorities arrived.

“The general public has received such a one-sided and skeletal account of this case that I don’t blame them for being upset,” said San Francisco attorney Ian P. Zimmerman. “The cabdriver didn’t have to barrel into McClure with a 4,000-pound car.

“If there ever was a case that shows the integrity of the jury system, this is it,” Zimmerman said.

Hollom, a cabbie for 25 years, was one of two cabdrivers who saw the late-night attack on Chihiro Saka in San Francisco’s Civic Center area. The cabbies pursued the assailant several blocks, yelling at the culprit to stop. Hollom made the chase with a passenger in the cab.

Finally, Hollom made a sharp turn, driving onto a sidewalk to block the mugger’s path. The mugger ran into the path of the cab and Hollom, sensing that the man was about to get away, drove forward, pinning a panting McClure against a building wall. The mugger, according to his attorney, suffered two severe leg fractures, a severed artery and torn calf muscle.

Police arrived and McClure was arrested. But in 1990, McClure brought a civil personal injury suit against Hollom and the Luxor Cab Co., seeking damages for assault and battery, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress, an allegation later dropped. The taxi firm was dismissed from the suit.

On Feb. 6, the jury returned the $24,595 award against Hollom--an amount that would cover most of McClure’s $32,000 bill to San Francisco General Hospital. Zimmerman, who did not suggest a specific damage figure to the jurors, credits the panel with paying close attention to the facts and resisting any impulse to reject the claims of a convicted criminal out of hand.

“We never contested that Mr. McClure committed the crime,” Zimmerman said. “But this was a separate, civil case--it had to do with the reasonableness of the cabdriver’s actions. And we thought it was excessive.”

Morozumi, while disappointed, acknowledges the difficulty of the task faced by the jury. “There is no bright-line law to follow as to what constitutes reasonable force,” he said. “We don’t criticize the jury. This was a tough question for them.”

For his part, Hollom is marveling at the response he has received in recent days. He said he received 211 telephone calls the day the verdict was reported. People from as far away as Japan have called to offer their support. His appearance Thursday on CNN’s Larry King Live program marked his 26th television show in seven days.

The Luxor Cab Co. is paying Hollom’s attorneys and has pledged to pay the damage award if necessary. Meanwhile, a fund drive initiated by KGO radio talk show host Ronn Owens has attracted $25,369 from more than 1,300 listeners. Any extra money will be donated to a victim’s rights fund to be determined by Hollom and the state attorney general’s office, said Laura Cox, the station’s promotions and community services manager.

Hollom said he holds no grudge against the jury, but he plans to appeal the verdict. His aim, he says, is to obtain a better explanation of what a citizen can do to apprehend a fleeing felon.

“I’m just a cabdriver who picks up fares and drops them off where they want to go,” he said. “I don’t know what reasonable force is.”