SAN DIEGO - San Diego County has agreed to pay $400,000 to settle a lawsuit over the death of an inmate who died at the George Bailey Detention Center after he was hogtied by sheriff's deputies, it was reported today.

The payout was won Wednesday by the widow of Marshawn Washington. Lawyers were in the second day of trial in federal court in San Diego when they settled, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Washington, 26, died Feb. 2, 2001, as he awaited transfer from the Otay Mesa jail to a state prison to serve a three-year sentence for selling cocaine.

His wife, Bertha, sued the county, naming sheriff's deputies and nurses at the jail, claiming Washington died because of excessive force and poor medical treatment.

James Chapin, a lawyer for the county, said officials settled the case because jury verdicts are unpredictable. The county denied any wrongdoing, according to the Union-Tribune.

Both sides agreed that Washington was awakened for a cell search the day he died and that deputies confiscated nude pictures of his wife, according to the Union-Tribune.

Washington became upset and demanded to speak with a supervisor, his lawyers told the newspaper.

He was taken to a medical cell where there was a struggle in which deputies forced him to the floor and bound his arms and legs together behind his back. Washington complained he couldn't breathe and stopped moving.

He was checked by nurses before being dragged into a padded cell, where he died.

A medical examiner said the cause of death was a heart attack, but lawyers disagreed over what caused it. County lawyers said Washington's poor health and weight - 273 pounds - was a factor. The widow's lawyer said he couldn't breathe because of the way he was restrained. CNS-09-22-2006 03:51