LOS ANGELES, June 6 -- Actor Carroll O'Connor, still grappling with the drug-related suicide last year of his son, endorsed Thursday a proposed California law that would allow drug dealers to be sued by anyone hurt by the drugs they sell. The Emmy-winning actor, best known as Archie Bunker on the TV series 'All in the Family,' told a news conference in downtown Los Angeles that selling drugs is 'one of the easiest ways to make an illegal buck. ' 'It's not dangerous, because you make your sale and the buyers go away,' he said. 'This law would make it dangerous for the pusher.' The proposal would establish civil liability for dealers, much as bartenders now can be sued for serving excessive alcohol to a drunken customer who then is harmed -- or harms or kills someone else -- while driving. California Attorney General Dan Lungren, who also supports the proposal and appeared Thursday with O'Connor, said the legislation would enable 'anyone financially injured by a drug dealer's actions to sue that dealer and hit them where it hurts -- in the pocketbook.' 'Children of parents incapacitated by drugs, employers of a drug user, or anyone providing medical treatment to a drug user can sue the drug dealer for costs and damages,' Lungren said. Users themselves also would be able to make limited use of the law. Users could sue their dealers if they cooperate fully with police and prosecutors and can demonstrate they no longer use drugs. Users, however, would be only be able to sue to recover actual economic damages, while other victims could also collect punitive damages and money for such intangible losses as pain and suffering.
The bill's sponsor, by Sen. Charles Caulderon, D-Whittier, said the measure will receive its first hearing next week in the Senate Committee on Criminal Procedure in Sacramento. O'Connor, 70, has been a vociferous proponent of stiffer penalties for drug dealers since his 32-year-old son, actor Hugh O'Connor, shot himself at his father's Pacific Palisades home in March 1995. O'Connor said his adopted son had a long history of drug addiction and was despondent at the prospect of entering another rehabilitation program. Only days before his son's suicide, O'Connor had given Los Angeles police detailed information about a man O'Connor identified as Hugh's primary drug supplier, Harry Perzigian, 39. A day after the suicide, police searched Perzigian's apartment and found a stash of cocaine, scales and cash. Perzigian, to whom O'Connor referred sarcastically Thursday as his 'favorite pusher,' was convicted Jan. 11 of possession of cocaine for sale and was sentenced to a year in prison, which he began serving Feb. 29. O'Connor said he would not be able to sue Perzigian under the proposed law because it will not be retroactive. 'I'll sue him up the bazoo...just to see if the judge will let me and for the publicity for the cause,' he said. O'Connor also said that Perzigian has filed a civil suit against him. 'He says I've denigrated his character, and that I've caused him a loss of income,' the actor said. 'The thing is, my favorite pusher has a whole lot of money,' O'Connor said. 'The IRS is after him now. We have to put pressure every way we can, and this is another way to do it.' Five other states have enacted similar laws. In Michigan, according to Caulderon, the law was used to obtain an $8 million judgment against four dealers on behalf of a 2-year-old 'crack baby' beaten to death by his drug-addicted mother. 'We need this in California,' O'Connor said. 'Everybody is being driven crazy with this drug problem.' O'Connor was asked whether becoming a spokesman for anti-drug legislation has helped him deal with his son's death. 'Well, I don't know if it helps,' he said. 'But you've got to do something, you know? These dealers are barnacles on society.'
