Hobbling

The Los Angeles Police Commission has agreed to ban a controversial form of restraining violent suspects as part of a proposed $750,000 settlement with the family of a man who died after officers shackled his hands and feet together behind his back. The practice, referred to by some as hogtying--or hobbling, in police terms--is typically used against combative suspects who often are intoxicated and difficult to control.

SAN ANTONIO - He was the last one to climb off the trainer's table, trudging through the musty high school gym Monday with the pained look of a kid who had just left detention. "It's not great," Steve Nash said, shaking his head. "It's not going to be great. " He was standing near a statue of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the most famous alumnus of the Texas Military Institute, where the Lakers were practicing between games of their first-round playoff series with the San Antonio Spurs.

After a series of deaths linked to hogtying, Los Angeles Police Department officials said Thursday that they will change the procedures and equipment to help minimize risks to violent suspects. After months of study, LAPD officials plan to begin training officers in the next few weeks on the use of a new hobbling device that permits greater freedom of movement for people who are arrested and reduces the danger of sudden death, officials said.

California is applying money-transfer laws to high-tech start-ups and others in the business of moving funds, subjecting them to the same strict regulations and heavy scrutiny as financial service companies. And that has some Silicon Valley entrepreneurs crying foul. The regulations, they say, are hobbling their ability to develop new Internet technologies that, like PayPal Inc. and Square Inc., make fast, secure payments with smartphones and tablets. FaceCash, a Palo Alto company that developed a mobile payment system using facial-recognition software, has sued the state in federal court on claims that licensing requirements discriminate against the company and hinder interstate commerce.

Law enforcement policies on hogtying combative suspects are being challenged and in many cases revamped across Los Angeles County after a series of recent deaths partly linked to the tactic and mounting medical evidence of its potentially lethal effects.

Citing new medical evidence that alleges hogtying suspects does not contribute to their deaths, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick said Friday that she wants to modify a settlement in a recent wrongful death lawsuit that cost the city $750,000 and forced police to abandon a controversial restraint procedure. Chick said she will introduce a motion at the City Council meeting Tuesday, asking the city attorney to explore modification of the settlement.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, facing criticism of its treatment of suspects, has changed its policy to prohibit a controversial form of restraint known by critics as hogtying. The decision comes as a lawyer--who filed a wrongful-death suit against the massive law enforcement agency--released a Sheriff's Department videotape showing deputies in the Athens area using the restraint on a suspect who died shortly after his hands and feet were tied behind his back.

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday agreed to pay $3.2 million and eliminate a controversial procedure of restraining violent suspects, settling two unrelated wrongful-death lawsuits involving the city's Police Department. In one case, the council approved a $750,000 settlement with the family of a 25-year-old man who died after officers shackled his hands and feet together behind his back. In the other case, a $2.

A Los Angeles man who allegedly was firing shots at passing motorists in the Athens area died early Sunday morning after sheriff's deputies restrained him by using a controversial method banned by the Los Angeles Police Department. Sheriff's officials said Dwayne Nelson, 41, was forcibly restrained by deputies using a technique called total appendage restraint procedure, or TARP.

Arash Hariri sat shackled and handcuffed during closing arguments in his murder trial Thursday after an attempt to escape earlier in the week. As stunned jurors looked on and a prosecutor and others screamed, Hariri had bolted from his seat, leaped over a railing and dashed for the door Monday. He was thwarted by his cousin, who is also the son of the man Hariri is accused of killing during a July 1996 financial disagreement.

With Steve Nash hampered by a strained hamstring, the Lakers will need veteran point guard Steve Blake to help keep the team afloat through the final eight games. Nash hopes to play but on Saturday he didn't get through two minutes  before he asked Coach Mike D'Antoni to take him out. Blake missed much of the season with an abdominal tear, which required surgery. He's played in 37 games, averaging 6.1 points and 3.8 assists. When Blake has his jumper working, like he did in the recent victory over the Sacramento Kings when he made five three-pointers, the Lakers are harder to contain.

MILWAUKEE - The older, slower, stumbling Lakers were playing on the second night of a back-to-back, so the outcome was practically predetermined. What were not expected were dual injuries to their aging backcourt, Steve Nash unable to finish the game and Kobe Bryant limping through the locker room after a 113-103 loss Thursday to the Milwaukee Bucks. Bryant was bothered by a bone spur in his left foot, Nash sidelined by what he called a hip spasm. BOX SCORE: Bucks 113, Lakers 103 Bryant will be evaluated by doctors in Sacramento when the Lakers arrive there Friday, a day before they play the Kings to complete a four-game trip.

California is driven by a talented pair of guards, Allen Crabbe and Justin Cobbs. USC's two point guards, on the other hand, are nursing injuries going into Sunday's game against the Golden Bears in Berkeley, although both are expected to play. Senior Jio Fontan, who bruised his left knee when it hit the court Thursday during the Trojans' win at Stanford, said that while the contact left a mark, he would be able to play Sunday. "But I'm happy to have an extra day," Fontan said.

BOULDER, Colo. - Josh Scott scored 14 points and Askia Booker had 12 to help Colorado end a skid at two games by holding off USC, 66-60, on Thursday night. The Trojans (6-10, 1-2 Pac-12) will have to keep searching for a road win. USC has dropped 14 consecutive games away from the Galen Center. Eric Wise finished with 16 points for the Trojans, who haven't won on the road since Nov. 30, 2011, at UC Riverside. The Buffaloes (11-4, 1-2) ran their home record to 7-0. After a fast start by USC to open the game, the momentum began to shift late in the first half when Jio Fontan hobbled off the court.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has refused for more than two years to allow its agents to cooperate with a Los Angeles Police Department investigation into the death of a drug suspect shortly after he was arrested in a DEA operation, according to LAPD records. The LAPD's homicide investigation has effectively stalled, and officials said in documents reviewed by The Times that without assistance from the DEA they cannot determine how the man's fatal injuries were inflicted.

WASHINGTON - Optimism surrounding secretive high-level budget talks faded quickly Tuesday amid a fresh round of partisan finger-pointing, reducing the chances of a resolution to the fiscal standoff by Christmas. House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) spoke to President Obama by phone late in the evening after presenting a GOP counteroffer. Republicans, meanwhile, showed further signs of political division. Top members of the party, including former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, said the GOP should accept the president's offer to raise tax rates on the top 2% of Americans in exchange for spending cuts.

Since the death of Pasadena barber Michael James Bryant in March, 1993, while he was hogtied, or hobbled, by police officers, questions have arisen over the safety and humaneness of this method of restraining suspects. Used mostly with violent or drug-influenced suspects, hogtying involves handcuffing a suspect, then connecting the suspect's ankles to the handcuffs with a cord or strap. Suspects who have died while hogtied suffocated because they were restrained stomach-down.

With Apple's stock hobbling and questions lingering about its ability to innovate in the post-Steve Jobs era, investors and fans are latching on to hopes that the tech giant's next big thing will be the iWatch. While little is known of the mythical gadget that has recently become the hottest topic of Silicon Valley's rumor mill, boosters envision a device that would let users read emails, Facebook notifications or caller ID by simply glancing down at their wrists. The smartwatch, connected wirelessly to the iPhone, would tap the power of the voice assistant Siri to control music, dictate messages or get directions.

Mike D'Antoni hobbled to his first news conference as the Lakers' coach. He used a crutch on his left side, still recovering from knee-replacement surgery. He finished a distant second to Phil Jackson in the popular vote among Lakers fans, but he wasn't the one receiving an awkward midnight rejection call from General Manager Mitch Kupchak on Sunday. "We're built to win this year. This is not a project," D'Antoni said Thursday about his new team. "We have a window. " It's a tiny one, with an aging roster and thinning patience among fans who expected a roaring start, not a 3-5 record and sagging offense.

When the Lakers locker room opened, only one player was in the room. While his teammates showered, Kobe Bryant sat with a towel around his neck, speaking in a dejected tone about his team's disappointing performance. The Lakers, who were 0-8 in exhibition play, lost to the Dallas Mavericks, 99-91, in their season opener Tuesday evening at Staples Center. It was a sputtering start for one of the most talked-about teams in the NBA. "We want to execute much better offensively," Bryant said.