CITY OKS PAYOUTS IN LAPD LAWSUITS.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

The City Council voted Tuesday to pay $3.2 million to settle two lawsuits alleging wrongful deaths at the hands of LAPD officers, including $2.45 million to relatives of a woman killed after being shot seven times in the back by police.

As part of the second settlement, costing $750,000, city officials agreed to abandon the practice of hogtying suspects after a Sunland man died in the restraints.

The $2.45 million settlement will be paid to the mother and daughter of Sonji Taylor, who was shot to death on the evening of Dec. 16, 1993, during a standoff with police on the roof of St. Vincent Medical Center.

The family was represented by attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. in its wrongful death lawsuit against the city.

Security officers found Taylor on the roof brandishing a knife in a threatening manner and holding her then-3-year-old daughter, according to Deputy City Attorney Tayo Popoola.

Los Angeles Police Department officers asked the woman to release the child, but the woman instead continued to repeat the phrase ``The blood of Jesus'' while making stabbing motions with the knife, according to Popoola.

``The situation was getting out of hand. She was threatening everybody with the knife,'' Popoola said. ``The stabbing motion was getting closer and closer to the child's head.''

One officer sprayed Taylor in the face with pepper spray, which caused the woman to release the child, who was then grabbed by an officer.

However, Taylor allegedly lunged at that point at the officer who pepper-sprayed her.

Officers providing cover for the threatened officer opened fire, hitting Taylor nine times, including seven times in the back, resulting in her death.

Popoola said it was not unusual for there to be back wounds because the woman was moving around a lot and officers had formed a triangle around her to cover the officer using the pepper spray.

The city attorney said neither of the officers was disciplined for the shooting because it was ruled by the LAPD to be in compliance with department policy.

Still, City Council members decided Tuesday not to risk going to trial against Cochran in a case that at the time had stirred racial tensions because Taylor was African-American and the officers were white.

Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg said a jury might have returned a much higher verdict against the city.

Cochran could not be reached for comment.

The council also voted Tuesday to pay $750,000 to settle an excessive-force lawsuit filed by surviving relatives of Bruce Klobuchar, who died after a scuffle with police officers in Sunland in August 1995.

The coroner had ruled that Klobuchar died as a result of multiple drugs in his system, including cocaine, and of ``restraint asphyxia'' caused by the hogtying, Boeckman said.