Settlement in Police Beating Case

The parents of a black teenager whose beating by Inglewood police officers was videotaped and broadcast on television worldwide have agreed to a tentative settlement of their federal civil rights suit against the city and county, a defense attorney said Monday.

Albert DeBlanc Jr., who represents Inglewood, said that Donovan Jackson and his family would receive a monetary award but declined to say how much.

The agreement, he said, contains no admission of wrongdoing or liability by Inglewood police or Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies.

DeBlanc spoke after a brief status hearing on the case before U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian.

The lawyer told the judge that the plaintiffs were seeking some minor changes in the settlement’s language before signing off on the deal.

Attorneys for the Jackson family could not be reached for comment.

In January, a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury awarded $2.4 million to two Inglewood officers involved in the beating.

Former Inglewood Police Officer Jeremy Morse and his partner Bijan Darvish, who are white, contended that they were punished more harshly than a black officer who allegedly struck 16-year-old Jackson with a flashlight.

The incident occurred July 6, 2002, at an Inglewood service station after two sheriff’s deputies questioned Jackson’s father about expired registration tags on his car.

Jackson, emerging from the station’s snack shop, exchanged words with the officers and allegedly refused to get back into the car.

Inglewood police arrived to help, a struggle ensued and Jackson was wrestled to the ground and handcuffed.

As shown on the videotape, Morse then picked him up and slammed him against the police car.

Morse was fired and tried twice in state court on felony charges. Juries in both cases deadlocked, and the district attorney’s office dropped the charges.

Darvish, who still works for the Inglewood Police Department, was acquitted of filing a false police report about the incident. However, he received a 10-day suspension.

Both officers were named as defendants in the federal lawsuit along with sheriff’s deputies who allegedly witnessed the episode.