Kirkland Settles In Frier Accident -- Ex-Seahawk Faults Median In '94 Crash

KIRKLAND

The city of Kirkland has agreed to pay former Seattle Seahawk football player Mike Frier $500,000 in connection with a 1994 automobile wreck that left him partially paralyzed.

Both parties in the dispute over a traffic median's role in the accident said they were vindicated by the out-of-court agreement, announced yesterday.

"Mike Frier sued the city for $20 million. We offered $500,000, and they accepted," said Gail Gorud, Kirkland city attorney.

Gorud said the settlement "in no way" acknowledges liability, but was chosen as the best way to handle a legal matter in which the city had a potential risk of exposure to a $20 million verdict.

Mike Withey, Frier's attorney, said the settlement sends "a clear message" that failure to properly mark obstructions may result in penalties.

Frier said he was "happy this is over."

The accident that left Frier paralyzed below the waist happened on 108th Avenue Northeast when the Oldsmobile Bravada carrying three Seahawk players - Frier, Chris Warren and Lamar Smith - swerved to get around a car, hit a median and careened into a utility pole.

Frier was crushed by a 200-pound stereo speaker that broke loose from the rear cargo area of the sport-utility vehicle.

Frier's suit against Kirkland alleged that the median was poorly lighted and virtually invisible until it was too late to avoid it.

A trial against Smith, on vehicular-assault charges, ended in an 11-1 deadlock for conviction. The state Supreme Court recently declined to hear Smith's appeal of a lower-court ruling that will allow King County prosecutors to use his blood samples when they retry the case.

At issue is whether Smith was intoxicated. Kirkland police initially thought the driver was Chris Warren, so didn't perform sobriety tests on Smith. Medical personnel drew blood from Smith at the hospital where he was treated, but prosecutors were not allowed to test it.

In a separate settlement reached in July, Smith, a running back, agreed to pay up to $4 million to Frier, giving him 35 percent of Smith's net income and half of his signing and performance bonuses for seven years.

Peyton Whitely's phone message number is 206-464-2259. His e-mail address is: pwhi-new@seatimes.com