King Case Leads Glendale to Settle Own Police Suit : Negligence: Man whose arm was broken by an officer accepts the $500,000 deal. Officials had feared a larger damage award.

Glendale city officials, fearing fallout from the Rodney G. King beating case, have agreed to pay an Eagle Rock man $500,000 to settle a police negligence lawsuit and avoid a jury decision on damages, city officials said.

A Glendale Superior Court jury ruled March 27 that the city was legally responsible for the conduct of a Glendale police officer who broke Marvin J. Riley’s arm. The injury occurred when the officer pulled Riley, a diabetic who had passed out because of low blood sugar, from a pickup truck in 1986.

The jury had begun hearing testimony on the amount of damages that the city should pay when Riley, 48, accepted the $500,000 settlement Wednesday morning.

Widespread coverage of the King beating by Los Angeles police influenced both the city’s offer to settle and the victim’s decision to accept, participants in the case said Thursday.

Glendale officials feared that jurors, disturbed by the King beating, would grant Riley a large award. But Riley’s attorney feared that the King case would produce a backlash among jurors and a small award.

“I was concerned that the jury might lean over backward, trying to be fair in putting aside the Rodney King uproar,” said John F. Denove, Riley’s attorney. “And they would say, ‘We’re Glendale, and we’re going to be reasonable.’ I was afraid ‘reasonable’ would equate to ‘cheap.’ ”

But Glendale Councilwoman Ginger Bremberg said the City Council, which authorized the settlement, also considered “the present climate created by non-Glendale police officers” and the city’s lack of success in postponing the trial until the King furor had died down. She said the council feared that the jury was influenced by the videotaped beating.

“No matter how hard you try to put it out of your head, when it’s being run four or five times a day on television and there are demonstrations and it’s front-page news, it’s got to be there in your mind,” she said.

Before this week, the city had refused to pay any damages in the incident, Denove said.

On Aug. 22, 1986, a bank security guard called police after seeing Riley walking in a disoriented manner, then slumping behind the wheel of his pickup. Officer Ashraf Mankarios testified that he feared that the semiconscious Riley was under the influence of drugs or alcohol and would awaken violently.

Mankarios testified that when Riley swung at him after he awakened him, the officer put Riley’s left arm behind the man’s back and pulled him out of the truck. He said Riley’s arm broke accidentally when Riley stumbled out of the cab.

Other witnesses provided conflicting descriptions of the incident, and the jury ruled that the city was negligent.

This week, during the damage phase of the trial, Riley’s attorney asserted that the arm injury triggered other serious medical problems, including a heart attack and kidney failure, leaving Riley, a 20-year employee of Sparkletts Drinking Water Corp., unable to hold a job.

Senior Assistant City Atty. Ron Braden said the jury could have awarded $1 million or more to Riley if it accepted that argument. He said this risk was a factor in the city’s decision to offer the $500,000 settlement.

Braden said he had been prepared to argue that Riley’s other medical ailments were caused by his diabetes, not the arm injury.