Ex-NFL player sues for injuries suffered in jail bathroom fall
Monday December 16, 2002RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. (AP) A former professional football player has filed a lawsuit against San Bernardino County, claiming he was injured inside a jail bathroom.
Kevin McLain, a linebacker who played for the Los Angeles Rams from 1976 to 1979, filed the lawsuit Dec. 10 in West Valley Superior Court. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
Disabled and confined to a wheelchair, McLain was grabbing onto a handicapped rail inside a bathroom at the West Valley Detention Center when it came loose from the wall, causing him to fall.
McLain, who was being held on federal fraud charges, suffered a dislocated hip and other fractures, his attorney Raymond Wood said. The fall exacerbated McLain's previous injuries, including a degenerative hip and pelvis injury caused from his playing days, Wood said.
County officials investigated McLain's claim and determined his prosthetic hip was faulty prior to the fall, Sheriff's spokesman Chip Patterson said.
``We believe the claim had no merit,'' Patterson said.
McLain, 48, has since pleaded guilty to mail fraud and other charges stemming from two schemes in which he defrauded eBay users.
Federal prosecutors said McLain accepted payments for expensive electronic equipment, such as laptop computers and digital cameras, but never delivered the items.
He was sentenced Aug. 5 to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay $29,000 in restitution.
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