Dennis RomeroAn LAPD review of Christopher Dorner's firing wasn't supposed to be wrapped up until the end of the month, but civil rights attorney Connie Rice has seen a draft and told the Associated Press it concludes the killer cop was justly terminated.
The second look at Dorner's brief career at the LAPD was a big deal because he indicated his disintegration in February, including shootouts, suicide, killing two police officers and murdering two innocents connected to an LAPD official who tried to save his job, was the result of a culture of racism and CYA — covering your ass — at the LAPD:
While the LAPD stated yesterday that the report had “not been finalized” and that “any comments or conclusions about the contents of the review are premature,” a leak by a prominent African American civil rights lawyer, one who has been an LAPD critic and watchdog, could go a long way toward mollifying those who believe that there was the ring of truth to his story.
The internal review was expected to be revealed during a Police Commission meeting at the end of June. Rice's office told us she would not comment further on the matter, not, at least, until the internal review was finalized and released.
Likewise, a Commission spokeswoman had nothing to say.
But Rice's comments to AP's Tami Abdollah resonated widely overnight. According to AP's story:
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.
Credit: Ted Soqui for LA Weekly
“The guy needed to go,” Rice told AP.
Dorner went on a rampage in February that was tied to a “manifesto” believed to be written by the ex-LAPD officer.
The rambling, vengeful document, in which dozens of LAPD officials are named and targeted for violence, paints a picture of a department in which whistle blowers are pushed out.
The former officer said that his downfall came when he complained that a training officer had kicked a down suspect in the head. Evidence of the allegation didn't exactly comprise a smoking gun, and Dorner was targeted for termination.
After Dorner went on the run in February, some in the African American community said his manifesto had a point — that racism still existed in the department.
A few former African American officers came forward to say that while they didn't support his violence, they too had problems with the way the department had treated them.
See also: Joe Jones Manifesto: Black Ex-LAPD Cop Says Of Dorner, 'I Understand'.
The suggestion that the LAPD still had a race problem was enough to put Chief Charlie Beck on the defensive, and he promised a thorough review of Dorner's firning.
Rice said of Dorner:
He raised all that racism stuff in my mind because he knew he'd get a rise out of them. He did everything he could to hurt the department.
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