See also: Joe Jones Manifesto: Black Ex-LAPD Cop Says Of Dorner, 'I Understand.'

See clarification below.

A third African American with experience at the LAPD has come out to express empathy with Christopher Dorner's charges of cop racism.

Not only that but Brian Bentley, who wrote about his experience on the job in One Time: The Story of a South Los Angeles Police Officer, says he knew three other cops who had manifestos of their own:

He says in a statement that he expected to see a black cop blow his top sooner than later. [Clarification: The statement was made to Jasmyne A. Cannick for a piece, linked above, that will also run in the Los Angeles Sentinel tomorrow ].

It took longer than I thought it would for something like this to happen.

The 49-year-old, like others who have spoken out on the topic of racism inside the LAPD, said he does not condone Dorner's alleged actions — killing the daughter of an an ex-department captain and her fiance and fatally wounding two on-duty officers.

But he empathizes with Dorner's experience at the department: “I lived it,” he says.

Credit: Brian Bentley

Credit: Brian Bentley

Bentley, who worked during the admitted LAPD dark days of 1989 to 1999, alleges that fired cops were often the subject of be-on-the-lookout bulletins at local police stations: The department feared retaliation, he says.

When the Department terminated you, they intentionally tried to ruin your life. That's how they discredited you. Dorner isn't the first ex-police officer to have a manifesto or some sort of hit list.

The ex-cop, who says he once worked alongside Mark Fuhrman, claims he even kept a manifesto of his own: It was not a hit list, but a list nonetheless of those in the department he said wronged him.

But aren't things better now?

Bentley says he talks to friends on the force who say that things aren't exactly rosy for African Americans on the force.

He wants to see, according to a summary, …

… a real conversation can take place in Los Angeles about LAPD's internal policies as well as the racism that still exists in the Department.

(Bentley's latest book is Integrity: A Journey Behind the Blue Line).

See also: Wayne K. Guillary, LAPD Sgt., Appeals To Dorner, Says Cop Racism Remains.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

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