Local News in Brief : Victim of Fall Files Claim

One of the people injured two weeks ago when steel ventilation gratings collapsed in a Redondo Beach parking garage filed a claim against the city last week for $1 million.

John LaFrano, 47, of Fullerton suffered a broken arm and an injured leg when the gratings gave way and he fell 22 feet at the city-owned Pier Plaza Parking Garage just south of Harbor Drive.

One man was killed and LaFrano and seven other people were injured in the Jan. 31 accident during a party after a Super Bowl 10K run held in the beach city each year.

LaFrano, who ran in the race, said in a telephone interview from his hospital room the day after the accident: “I don’t remember a lot of it. . . . One minute you’re standing there, and the next minute you’re falling. It was so sudden. I didn’t even realize I was on this thing and that it could fall. . . . I just thank God I’m alive.”

City Atty. Gordon Phillips said the claim will probably be rejected, as most claims routinely are. Under state law, a person must register a claim with the city within six months of an accident before filing a lawsuit. LaFrano, who was released from the hospital Friday, is the only victim of the collapse who has submitted a claim so far.