The manifesto of former LAPD officer and accused cop-killer Christopher Dorner contains detailed allegations of racism, brutality and corruption within the LAPD. "The department has not changed since the Rampart and Rodney King days. It has gotten worse," Dorner wrote. Support is growing for Dorner's efforts to expose LAPD misconduct, if not for the extreme violence of his actions.
Dorner claims that he was fired from the LAPD because he reported his field training officer, Sergeant Teresa Evans, for committing police brutality by kicking a mentally-ill suspect in the face during an arrest. Police treatment of the seriously mentally ill received press attention in 2012 after three Fullerton, California, police officers were arrested, charged and ordered to stand trial in the beating death of Kelly Thomas, a mentally ill homeless man. In Dorner's case, he was the one who was brought up on charges, for filing a false police report, and brought before an LAPD disciplinary review board.
At his disciplinary hearing, Dorner's version of events was supported by the testimony of the alleged victim of Sergeant Evan's brutality and corroborated by the man's father. LAPD police Captain Donald Deming, who was Dorner's Seargent at the time he reported his brutality allegations against Evans, testified that Dorner's performance was satisfactory while he was under his supervision. The disciplinary hearing officers chose to believe Sergeant Evans, found that Dorner had filed a false police report and terminated his employment with the LAPD.
There is a lot of public sentiment that Dorner's motivations for launching his blood feud with the LAPD are moot because he is a serial killer. The police routinely deal with dangerous people and the fact that someone who complains about police misconduct is alleged to have committed horrific crimes does not, in and of itself, moot their allegations.
Did Christopher Dorner get a raw deal from the LAPD? Read the court opinion in Dorner's appeal of his firing and judge for yourself.
UPDATE: Sunday, February 10: Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck announced that he has ordered the investigation in the 2009 firing of Christopher Dorner reopened.
CP from The Rule of Wolves
