Settlement OKd in Student’s Death : Law: Inglewood will pay $750,000 to resolve suit by Fountain Valley family. Patrick Shanahan died of injuries suffered as he struggled with police after concert.

The Inglewood City Council has agreed to pay $750,000 to settle a lawsuit by the Orange County family of a 19-year-old college student who died from neck injuries suffered as he struggled with police after a Grateful Dead concert at the Forum in December, 1989.

Inglewood police said they used a carotid artery chokehold--a controversial form of forceful restraint banned by many law enforcement agencies because of concerns about serious injury--to control Patrick Shanahan after he resisted attempts to arrest him.

The Los Angeles County coroner’s office concluded that the Orange County man died from “compression of the neck during restraint.” Listed as contributing factors in Shanahan’s death were “multiple injuries and acute LSD intoxication.”

William Shanahan, the victim’s father, said Wednesday that the family felt “ambiguous” about the settlement.

“My wife and I basically were hoping that the (police) officers would be charged and there would be a criminal prosecution. That did not happen and it does not appear it’s going to happen,” said Shanahan, 55, of Fountain Valley.

“But judging by the size of the award, while the city will probably deny culpability, they do not give out awards of that size if they are not in fact, to some degree, guilty,” Shanahan added.

Witnesses said they saw police officers beating Shanahan with nightsticks, and the coroner’s office said bruises were found on his forehead, neck, scalp, cheek, jaw, shoulder, chest, ribs, knee and back.

But Inglewood police denied that excessive force was used, and the district attorney’s office cleared them of any wrongdoing in the UC Santa Barbara student’s death.

Robert Jarrett, a fellow student at the campus in Goleta, said the two of them had spent the night at the Shanahan family home in Fountain Valley before attending the concert on the night of Dec. 10, 1989.

Jarrett said he and Shanahan became separated after the concert started and when he found his friend again, Shanahan appeared “worried, bugged out. . . .”

“He was waving his hands,” Jarrett said. “He didn’t say anything. I thought he was mad at me and that he wanted to be on his own.”

Jarrett said Shanahan walked away, and he never saw him again.

According to police, an officer on patrol after the concert on Dec. 10, 1989, spotted Shanahan standing rigidly with a blank stare on his face. The officer said Shanahan failed to respond to questions and dropped to his knees, yelling and laughing to himself.

The policeman said when Shanahan resisted efforts to arrest him, backup officers were called and he was wrestled to the ground. Police said when Shanahan broke free, one of the officers “placed him in a carotid control hold.”

Police were en route to the station with Shanahan when they noticed he had stopped breathing. They took him to Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Several months later, Shanahan’s family filed a wrongful-death suit against the city of Inglewood.

On Tuesday night, without any admission of wrongdoing by the city or its employees, the City Council authorized the $750,000 settlement.