Ex-Officer Gets $8 Million for Accident Injuries

A former Los Angeles police officer, left a paraplegic after a traffic accident while on his his way to a bomb scare three years ago, will receive nearly $8 million in settlements from lawsuits he subsequently filed, city officials said.

Brian D. Matthews, who had been a police officer for 19 years, was en route from Palmdale to San Pedro to handle a call about a suspicious briefcase. As he was driving on the San Diego Freeway in Granada Hills, the tread suddenly separated from a tire on his Chevrolet Suburban bomb squad vehicle. Matthews lost control and the Suburban bounced off the center divider, continuing to slide sideways until it struck several sand-filled barrels in a construction zone. The car flipped several times and Matthews was ejected.

Matthews, who was 41 at the time, had been working for the Los Angeles Police Department’s bomb squad for eight years.

Matthews sued Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., alleging a defective tire; General Motors, alleging a faulty seat belt; and Brutoco Engineering & Construction and the state of California, alleging an unsafe freeway condition. The city intervened in the lawsuit, seeking damages of $846,000 from workers’ compensation benefits paid to the former officer as a result of the accident, and nearly $754,000, the difference between the disability pension he is being paid and the regular service pension he could have taken.

The City Council agreed after a closed session on Wednesday to accept a $146,250 settlement from the co-defendants. Because under the settlement Matthews would purchase his own insurance from now on, city attorneys estimate the savings to the city in accepting the deal would be about $1.6 million. A Los Angeles Superior Court mediator recommended the settlement and city attorneys agreed it was in the city’s best interest.

Matthews will receive more than $7.9 million from the various co-defendants.