BRUTALITY CLAIMS SETTLED\Sheriff backs deal on suits.

Byline: David Bloom Daily News Staff Writer

The largest police brutality litigation action in state history has been tentatively settled, with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department agreeing to pay $7.5 million to dozens of people who claimed they were victims of brutality and improper shootings by Lynwood station deputies.

In addition, the Sheriff's Department will have to spend up to $1.5 million for cultural-diversity training, and will have to pay an additional $500,000 if it does not implement by March 1997 a computerized system to track use-of-force incidents.

Attorneys and some of the 91 plaintiffs involved in 40 incidents between 1989 and 1990 called the offer a victory, and said it sent another stern message to the department that brutality by deputies won't be tolerated.

"It's a very big win," said Carol Watson, one of the key attorneys in the litigation. "It's a real victory because policy changes were a big part of the settlement."

Elzie Coleman, the lead plaintiff in the case, said in an interview, the settlement and his $800,000 share were "a relief."

But, he said, "There ain't that much money in the whole world to make up for what I lost. I'd rather be (whole)."

Coleman said he still limps and has a damaged thumb after being shot six times by a deputy in a 1990 case of mistaken identity in the unincorporated Willowbrook area near Watts.

Coleman will receive the single largest payment in the deal, while others in the three separate lawsuits will receive amounts beginning with a $5,000 minimum.

Sheriff Sherman Block defended the proposed settlement, saying it was a fair deal.

"This case could have gone on for years," Block said. "There's no question in my mind we would have prevailed in many of the cases, but it would have been a distraction that would have occupied us for years. The decision was made to get on with the business at hand."

Block on Friday continued to deny the suit's allegation that there was a pattern or practice by the department of "targeting minorities," but acknowledged individual incidents of wrongdoing.

"If you ask, were there individual incidents where people were dealt with wrongly, I don't disagree."

Block declined to say whether any of the 83 deputies named in the lawsuits was disciplined.

A department spokesman said later that a state constitutional amendment forbids the revealing of disciplinary proceedings against law enforcement officers unless they appeal their punishments to the county Civil Service Commission.

The spokesman, Sgt. Ron Spear, said he was unaware of any such appeals.

The lawsuits alleged that the Lynwood station deputies were racist, rogue cops who targeted minorities in a pattern of unpunished abuse and misconduct.

The litigation had already cost the county more than $5 million in defense expenses.

Last summer, the first trial involving three plaintiffs ended with a federal jury awarding Darren Thomas and two friends $611,000, after Thomas claimed he was beaten unconscious in a confrontation in his front yard with six deputies in 1989.

"After that, they sat down and settled all the cases embraced in this litigation," said Hugh Manes of Los Angeles, the lead counsel among 12 attorneys representing the plaintiffs. If the deal is approved by the Board of Supervisors, the damages will be paid in installments over the next 2-1/2 years.

Under the terms, the total payment would be reduced $500,000 if the Sheriff's Department finishes installing a computerized system by March 1997 to track brutality complaints against deputies, the settlement document states.

The county also will spend $1.5 million for additional deputy training on use of force and cultural sensitivity, according to the settlement document terms.

In addition, the county will extend from July to December 1999 its contract with Special Counsel Merrick Bobb to continue regular oversight of the department's efforts to reduce brutality and shooting lawsuits and complaints. The settlement will pay Bobb and his support staff up to $700,000 for the additional work.

Plaintiffs attorneys said the county faced higher costs if the cases had gone to trial and ended with large jury awards.

"On the first one, they got hammered (with a high damage award) in a case where a guy lost a couple of teeth and got Tasered," said West Los Angeles attorney Gary Casselman. "The next one (set for trial) was Coleman and what would he have gotten if that (Thomas) case went for $611,000? They folded because they knew they were going to get hammered."

Manes and other plaintiffs' attorneys also said the cases helped force the creation of the Kolts Commission in late 1991.

The commission's scathing 1992 reports on brutality and shootings in the department outlined a series of reforms to reduce lawsuits that were costing county taxpayers $22 million in damage payments in 1992-93.

"This isn't just another one of those cases where they pay us money and we go away," said attorney John C. Burton of Pasadena. "This case was never never about money. This case was about enough is enough and we're not going to accept business as usual."

"I think we definitely got their attention on a very serious problem," Burton added. "While the problem of excessive force and racism in deputies is not going to go away, it's at least being recognized as a problem. I think what the settlement is designed to do is ensure it doesn't happen again."

Following the commission's reports, Block instituted a series of reforms that included some of the training and computer system development that the settlement would ensure are completed.

The Daily News reported last week that brutality suits against the department have dropped 65 percent and damages and settlement payments by the department have dropped 55 percent.

But plaintiff attorneys said they still question whether the department has addressed all its problems.

"I think a lot of the same things are still going on but they're being more subtle about it," said Casselman.

The proposed settlement will be taken up Monday by the county Claims Board and if approved there, will be considered by the Board of Supervisors within a couple of weeks. The supervisors' approval would end the litigation.