The Region - News from June 27, 1986

A federal court jury verdict absolving five Los Angeles police officers of negligence in the July 31, 1982, death of handcuffed Donald Ray Wilson, 36, suspected of being under the influence of PCP, was upheld by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The three-judge panel ruled that the U.S. district court judge properly excluded evidence that one officer had admitted violating city policy on the use of a chokehold, finding that there was substantial evidence that he had acted reasonably because he feared Wilson was about to push him over a freeway guardrail. Wilson’s sister, Freddie Maddox, had sued the city, the five officers and County-USC Medical Center for $165 million, claiming that Wilson’s civil rights were violated.