Review: Firing of ex-LAPD officer Dorner justified

June 5, 2013 @ 5:55 am


FILE - In this undated photo released by the Los Angeles Police Department shows suspect Christopher Dorner, a former Los Angeles officer. Dorner, who was fired from the LAPD in 2008 for making false statements, is linked to a weekend killing in which one of the victims was the daughter of a former police captain who had represented him during the disciplinary hearing. An internal review by the LAPD concluded that rogue ex-cop Christopher Dorner was justifiably fired, a lawyer who reviewed the findings told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Civil rights attorney Connie Rice said the lengthy examination found no basis for allegations of racism and bias that Dorner made in a manifesto vowing revenge on his former colleagues and their families. (AP Photo/Los Angeles Police Department, File) | Zoom
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LOS ANGELES (AP) - An internal review by the Los Angeles Police Department concluded that rogue ex-officer Christopher Dorner was justifiably fired, a lawyer who reviewed the findings told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Civil rights attorney Connie Rice said the lengthy examination found no basis for allegations of racism and bias that Dorner made in a manifesto vowing revenge on his former colleagues and their families.

Authorities said Dorner killed four people, including two law enforcement officers, during a weeklong rampage in February that involved a massive manhunt and ended with his apparent suicide in a mountain cabin following a gunbattle with police.

The findings, which are expected to be made public this month at a Los Angeles Police Commission meeting, concluded that Dorner had a history of embellishing stories, misperceiving slights and making bogus complaints against his fellow officers, Rice said.

He took more than twice as long as most officers to complete his training, was nearly incomprehensible during the hearing over his firing, and only filed a complaint against his training officer when he learned she gave him a bad performance review, Rice said.

The department said in a statement the review had not been finalized.

"Any comments or conclusions about the contents of the review are premature," it said. "The LAPD will announce the review once finalized."

Police Commission President Andrea Ordin said the report still needed to go to the inspector general for review and then to the Police Commission.

Chief Charlie Beck ordered the review as Dorner was on the run after being accused of killing the daughter of his former union lawyer and her fiance and releasing the manifesto saying he would get even for being unfairly fired because he was black.

Rice, a longtime department watchdog and frequent critic, was allowed to review the findings.

"The firing was justified and his allegations are completely unfounded," said Rice, who spent two weeks reviewing the findings. "This guy needed to go. And the question was, even if he needed to go, did the LAPD get rid of him in a way that was illegitimate? And the answer for me was no."

The roughly 40-page report relied on about 80 documents, including 900 pages of transcripts from the Board of Rights hearing that concluded Dorner lied when he claimed a training officer had brutally kicked a mentally ill man during an arrest. He was fired for making a false report and a Los Angeles Superior Court judge sided with the department during a 2010 appeal.

The internal LAPD review conducted by Gerry Chaleff, the department's special assistant for constitutional policing, also re-examined at least 10 complaints Dorner officially lodged with the department while he was an officer, Rice said.

In his manifesto, Dorner said the LAPD had tarnished his reputation, ruined the former Navy reserve's military career, and destroyed his life.

"He raised all that racism stuff in my mind because he knew he'd get a rise out of them," Rice said. "He did everything he could to hurt the department."

The department is also conducting a review of the overall discipline system and will also review the cases of a handful of former officers who have since formally requested reviews of their firings.

Rice said she spoke with many black officers in the department who said that though the department still had issues with racism, it had changed a great deal over the past decades.

"Just because racism didn't play a leading role in what happened to Dorner doesn't mean the LAPD is now an inter-racial nirvana," Rice said. "It does still have serious problems like every department does and we shouldn't forget that."

___

Follow Tami Abdollah at http://www.twitter.com/latams


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Comments (23)


  • Add A Comment

  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    He will not be
    February 12, 2013 12:55 pm
    taken alive!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Cbrew wrote...
    Why do they report this stuff when they have no idea what's going on?
    February 12, 2013 1:50 pm
    This report says he was barricaded in a cabin, stole a car, had a shootout... They don't provide a logical order to it all and do not say whether he's still in the cabin or if he's left or what's going on... reporters do know they can slow down enough to get the real story right? Or is it just that they have to win the race to put it on the internet first?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • William Lawn wrote...
    Cop has a kmini 14 ruger
    February 12, 2013 1:56 pm
    Or as they are known by the NRA "Black scary looking rifle".
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Cash wrote...
    First reporting...
    February 12, 2013 1:58 pm
    I hate the news format of having to be the first to report... How about the first to report accurate details?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Moondoggie wrote...
    Shouldn't the headline read...
    February 12, 2013 2:06 pm
    Piers Morgan follower and killer of innocent people holed up in cabin! If He was a listener of Rush Limbaugh, you can bet that limbaugh's name would be in the tag line.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • William Lawn wrote...
    Might also read Chris Christie, George Bush follower and killer of innocent people.
    February 12, 2013 2:16 pm
    But then you'd howl media bias.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Cbrew wrote...
    This story really makes you wonder......
    February 12, 2013 2:11 pm
    If he really did get shafted by the LAPD... they aren't exactly an organization with a lot of credibility with the community... regardless, It's no excuse to go out and kill people... anybody... over it. He needs to be captured, whether he was unjustly fired or not, he's a murderer now...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • William Lawn wrote...
    Yeah, killing innocents does tend to trump a hostile work environment
    February 12, 2013 2:18 pm
    when filing a EEOC complaint.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Cbrew wrote...
    yup... it does...
    February 12, 2013 2:29 pm
    There's a thousand other ways he could have gone with this... including working with groups to have his name cleared etc. could have embarrassed the LAPD by starting a campaign to root out these kinds of problems he claims exist within the department, instead, he went on a killing spree... kinda ended his chances of clearing his name right there...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • maplefish wrote...
    Cbrew
    February 13, 2013 11:23 am
    I'm with ya on all your comments. Well put.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • murr wrote...
    Anybody wanna take bets
    February 12, 2013 3:16 pm
    Only thinking. Are/Did the L A PD open his records back up of his firing, to be the first to protect themselves of what they did or to fabricate ??? or to really (honestly) really search for answers. Look at the media, look at all the attention this is getting. This does promote more of this in my mind.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Rich White and Orange wrote...
    Foreshadowing Kersey's End
    February 12, 2013 3:42 pm
    This is.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Bucket Dad wrote...
    I really want the LAPD chief to step up to the mike and ...
    February 12, 2013 4:01 pm
    answer the question of why did they shoot this cold-blooded killer so many times with the answer that Sheriff Judd used: "Because that is all the bullets we had."
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Bloodsurf69 wrote...
    Guilty first
    February 12, 2013 4:10 pm
    I have not seen anything proof that he killed anyone. Remember what happened in the movie, Shootist? Just saying
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }