CITY SETTLES 1997 POLICE BRUTALITY SUIT

$500,000 To Be Paid In West Side Death

In a case overshadowed by other allegations of police brutality, city
lawyers agreed to a $500,000 settlement with the family of a West Side
woman who died in a 1997 struggle with officers.

The death of Frankie Ann Perkins, 37, has striking similarities to
that of Gregory Riley, an alleged drug dealer who died last month
after trying to flee police. And it also bears parallels to the
high-profile case of Jorge Guillen, who died as police sought to
subdue him in his Humboldt Park apartment in 1995. Last year, the city
paid $637,000 to settle a suit filed by Guillen's family.

Perkins was in a vacant lot on March 22, 1997, taking part in what
police believed was "drug activity," said Jennifer Hoyle, a
spokeswoman for the city's Law Department. She fled and chasing
officers observed her putting something in her mouth before they
subdued her, Hoyle said.

Police contended that Perkins choked to death on a plastic bag
containing five smaller bags of crack cocaine. But witnesses told a
different story, said Daniel Alexander, an attorney who filed a
multimillion dollar wrongful death lawsuit in Federal District Court
on behalf of Perkins' family.

The suit alleged that two officers, identified in court documents as
Robert Hofer and Joseph McCarthy, ran up to Perkins in the 3300 block
of West Van Buren Street before one threw her down, put a knee on her
chest, choked her and yelled "spit it out."

Alexander said Hofer revealed in a deposition that he was trained in
CPR and the Heimlich maneuver but did not attempt either procedure to
revive Perkins. Perkins was found to have cocaine in her system at the
time she died and was a drug user, but did not sell drugs, Alexander
said.

The police Office of Professional Standards investigated but found no
wrongdoing by either officer.

Police are "out there killing people, brutalizing people, and the city
is not doing anything about it," Alexander asserted. Taxpayers "should
think about that," he said. "Do they want to keep pouring out money
(for settlements) or do they want to police the police?"

City lawyers decided to settle because of conflicting witness reports
and because Perkins left three minor children, Hoyle said. The
settlement must still be approved by City Council.

The Office of Professional Standards, meanwhile, continues to
investigate the death of Riley, who quit breathing after a struggle
with police on June 14. Officers contended that he died after
swallowing a bag of crack cocaine that later was found in his stomach.

But the Cook County medical examiner's office ruled that Riley died of
"asphyxia due to compression of the neck and chest."

Riley's death followed by days the fatal shootings by police of
computer analyst LaTanya Haggerty and former Northwestern University
football player Robert Russ. The deaths sparked protests and charges
of brutality against minorities. Riley, Haggerty and Russ were
African-Americans.

Perkins also was black.