Safeway Settles With Family In Man’s Death

Safeway Inc. has reached an out-of-court settlement with the family of a man who died while being restrained by store employees who thought he had stolen a pack of cigarettes.

The agreement settles a wrongfuldeath lawsuit filed by the family of Antonio Jackson against Oakland, Calif.-based Safeway and two employees who restrained him outside a Safeway store in suburban Federal Way, Wash., in December 1993.

Company officials “expressed regret that this tragic incident occurred and are pleased that a settlement has been reached,” Safeway’s Seattle division office said in a brief statement Friday announcing the resolution.

The parties agreed not to discuss details of the settlement.

Besides Safeway and its employees, the lawsuit named as defendants King County and two county police officers who handled the call. The family is seeking unspecified monetary damages. Jackson’s family members say the policemen failed to give Jackson adequate medical help and share responsibility for his death.

Spokesman Dan Satterberg in the King County prosecutor’s office, declined comment on the impact of the settlement on the lawsuit against the county.

He said the settlement will not affect the inquest into Jackson’s death, set to begin Friday before Seattle District Court Judge Linda Lau.

Jackson, 25, suffocated Dec. 14, 1993, when the Safeway employees constricted his neck and compressed his chest while holding him for police, according to a King County medical examiner’s report.

Jackson was suspected of stealing a pack of cigarettes from the store.

Lau has ruled the scope of the inquest will be limited to the immediate cause of Jackson’s death and who caused it. She rejected the family’s request to look at Safeway and police policies that may have contributed to the death.

Prosecutors have said they want the inquest held before deciding to file criminal charges in Jackson’s death.