Man files $3 million claim with county

He seeks compensation after suffering a broken hip he says was incurred while in sheriff's custody

By Leslie Parrilla

lparrilla@thetribunenews.com

A Cambria man has filed a $3 million claim against the Sheriff's Department and the county, saying he suffered a broken hip after he spent a night in County Jail.

County officials said they are investigating the incident and said the man could have been injured before he came into their care.

The claim seeks compensation for medical bills and various other damages. It does not make direct accusations as to who or what might have caused Larry Wayne Wall's broken hip -- only that the injury happened while Wall was in custody.

San Luis Obispo attorney James McKiernan said Wall, 53, suffered a broken hip after his arrest on suspicion of public drunkenness around 7:15 p.m. on Nov. 4, 2005, and before his release from County Jail around 4 a.m. the next day.

Sheriff Pat Hedges said he had not seen the claim filed last week and could not comment on it. Assistant County Counsel Jac Crawford said his office has received the claim and plans to look into it.

"We're going to have to investigate this claim," Crawford said. "It would appear he probably came into our facility with this broken hip."

Wall doesn't remember what happened after he stumbled into Mustache Pete's Italian Eatery in Cambria around 7 p.m. on Nov. 4, McKiernan said.

A bartender working at the eatery that night told The Tribune that Wall was so drunk he was refused service. The bartender, who declined to identify himself in a phone interview Tuesday, said someone at the restaurant called authorities.

"He got a little aggressive with the girl bartender," the bartender said. "He went outside and fell down."

Wall tripped over a 3-foot-high wall outside the eatery but didn't fall to the ground, according to a patient care report by the Cambria Community Healthcare District, which was called out to treat him.

Medics said he had small abrasions on his hand but that he did not complain of pain to his head, neck or back, according to a patient care report.

Medical and police reports were included in the claim.

When deputies arrived, they found Wall sitting on a bench in front the restaurant and muttering statements such as "I'm wasted" and "I'm not able to drive," a Sheriff's Department incident report showed.

Deputies were told nothing was medically wrong with Wall, said sheriff's Sgt. Brian Hascall.

They had asked him to stand up but said he couldn't stand without help, according to the police report.

He was arrested and booked at County Jail. The next day he was wheeled out of jail in a wheelchair, McKiernan said.

McKiernan said Wall was with a friend who was sober and saw him walking before the arrest. He added that the claim relies on witnesses and information from medical experts who said regardless of how intoxicated someone is, they can't stand on a broken hip.

"Even though he's drunk as a skunk," McKiernan said, "... something happened between his booking and release."

After jail, McKiernan said, Wall spent four days in the hospital and underwent surgery for the broken hip, from which he is still recuperating.

The claim alleges the Sheriff's Department failed to put Wall into a sobering cell and monitor him.

Sheriff's officials said Tuesday they couldn't release information on where Wall was placed while in jail.

Wall, who is retired, was also arrested in 1999 for being drunk in public, according to court records.

Glenn Estrada, the county's benefits coordinator for risk management, said an insurance company is reviewing Wall's claim and he expects them to make a recommendation to the county.

About 75 to 200 claims are filed against the county each year, Crawford said. Only a minority of claims, which represent one side of a case, turn into lawsuits, Crawford said.

If the county does not respond to the claim within 45 days, Wall has two years to file a civil lawsuit. If it does respond, Wall has six months to file a suit.

The county paid $2 million -- the largest ever against the Sheriff's Department at the time -- in 2003 to settle a lawsuit filed by a Santa Maria man in connection with an arrest by deputies two years earlier.

Gerald Bernales claimed that a February 2001 arrest left him with brain damage because deputies had used excessive force. The deputies in the case did not face criminal charges.