City Found Negligent in Death of Suspect : Courts: Family of man who was hogtied while in LAPD custody is awarded $1.1-million judgment.

The parents of a 33-year-old cocaine user who terrorized a Hollywood family and later died in the custody of the Los Angeles Police Department were awarded a $1.1-million judgment Tuesday by a Superior Court jury that ruled the city was negligent in allowing officers to hogtie the obese suspect.

In a case that inspired comparisons to the Rodney G. King beating incident, lawyers for Tracy Mayberry’s parents convinced nine of the 12 jurors that police contributed to Mayberry’s death by cuffing his hands behind his back, cuffing his feet together, and then tying his bound hands to his bound feet and leaving him on his stomach.

Experts testified that the procedure--”cord-cuffing” in LAPD parlance but more commonly known as hogtying--is particularly dangerous for overweight subjects because the increased pressure on their lungs may lead to asphyxiation.

Lawyers Carol Watson and Iris Johnson-Bright called on police officials to review the cord-cuffing policy, noting that several police departments disdain the practice as too dangerous.

Watson and Johnson-Bright also convinced nine of the 12 jurors that Officer Michael Slider had violated Mayberry’s civil rights by striking him unnecessarily with his baton before he was handcuffed. The jury added $25,000 for excessive force and $1 in punitive damages because of Slider’s actions.

Initially, the jury had awarded $2.25 million for negligence in Mayberry’s death, but the sum was cut in half because the jurors--again by a 9-3 margin--ruled that Mayberry was 50% responsible for his own death.

The judgment--described as “a bittersweet victory” by Mayberry’s mother, Antrenette--was denounced by Slider and Sgt. Herman Kaskowitz, the supervisor on the scene. They emphasized that previous reviews of the incident by the LAPD, the district attorney’s office and the FBI had concluded there was no wrongdoing.

“I’m a good officer,” said Slider, a five-year veteran. “I know I’m a good officer.”

Deputy City Atty. Robert J. Pulone emphasized that a coroner’s autopsy blamed death on cardiac arrhythmia and acute cocaine intoxication.

The coroner, countered Watson, “didn’t know the guy was hogtied.”

Pulone theorized that the ethnically diverse jury had been unduly influenced by the repeated telecasts of the police beating of King, in part because Mayberry, like King, was African-American.

“In the Rodney King incident, I think a lot of officers would agree that was excessive force,” Pulone said. “No police officer in his right mind would think this was excessive force. . . . These officers are paying a price because of the publicity on Rodney King.”

Watson and Johnson-Bright also saw racial aspects in the case, even though Slider is African-American.

“I think they treated (Mayberry) as a ‘Gorilla in the Mist’ in the courtroom,” Watson said, alluding to the notorious computer message in which LAPD officers once described a domestic dispute in a black household.

As in the King case, officers contended their actions toward Mayberry were dictated in part because of his 6-foot 2-inch, 272-pound size and because he behaved in a threatening manner.

Mayberry was an Illinois native who moved to the Hollywood area in 1990 after serving eight years in a Chicago prison for attempted murder and armed robbery. On the morning of Nov. 3, 1990, police were called to the 400 block of Norton Avenue to subdue a man who had kicked in the door of a family’s home, pushed a 49-year-old woman into a bathtub and grabbed her 8-year-old son.

Mayberry talked crazily, members of the family said later. He pleaded with them to call police because somebody was trying to kill him, they said.

Mayberry was exhibiting symptoms of cocaine-induced psychosis, attorneys for his family and the city agree.

Mayberry was sitting outside the home when police officers arrived. Slider “took the lead” and tried to reason with Mayberry, Pulone said.

Slider assumed that role, Pulone said, because he was the only black officer on the scene and because, at 6-3 and about 240 pounds, he is almost as large as Mayberry. Officers struck Mayberry with their batons only after he tried to flee, Pulone said.

Neighbors testified that about six police repeatedly struck Mayberry with their batons and that they urged them to stop.

Two minutes after he was cord-cuffed, witnesses said, Mayberry complained that he couldn’t breathe. One minute after that, he died, Watson said.

Jury foreman Bruce May, an airlines employee, said that although three jurors were “adamant” that Mayberry was solely responsible for his fate, the majority believed the city is wrong to allow cord-cuffing and that “Slider should have put his baton away a little sooner.”

Janine Hanson, a 20-year-old legal secretary, was among the dissenting jurors. “I don’t think it was the LAPD’s fault he died,” Hanson said. “They were called to restrain this guy and he was crazy running through the streets.” Watson portrayed Slider as “the fall guy” for the Police Department and suggested his action reflected conformity to institutionalized racism.

Slider reacted bitterly to Watson’s comments, saying he knows about racism firsthand.

“I know the (LAPD) is racist,” Slider said angrily. “I know these things have happened before.”

But racism, Slider said, played no role in Mayberry’s death.