Council Votes to Settle Shooting Victim’s Suit

WEST SAN FERNANDO VALLEY —  A man who was shot after threatening a police officer with a knife will receive more than $3 million because the Los Angeles city attorney’s office fears a jury verdict might cost taxpayers more.

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to settle the lawsuit, despite three separate findings that Police Officer Kelly Stallings did nothing wrong when she fired while defending herself.

The man with the knife, Lawrence Friedman, was living in an Amigo Avenue house for patients with mental disabilities when the shooting left him a paraplegic in 1994.

The settlement was recommended by a retired judge who served as a mediator, according to the city attorney’s office. The city, speculating that a jury might be very sympathetic to Friedman, agreed to pay $3.25 million.

The council should have fought the case, said Dennis Zine, a director of the Police Protective League. “When the City Council doesn’t show support in fighting those kinds of cases, it is demoralizing to officers,” Zine said.

Stallings was with another officer when they responded to a call Oct. 8, 1994, about a dispute at the house. Friedman walked out holding a knife extended at officers and yelling he would kill them, according to a police report.

The officers said Friedman refused to drop the knife and advanced rapidly on Stallings. Stallings shot Friedman once, but when he continued to advance, she shot him twice more. The Police Commission, the chief of police and a use-of-force review board all concluded that Stallings acted in defense of her life.