Gates Fires Officer Who Killed Cuban Immigrant

Following the recommendation of a department tribunal, Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates on Friday fired a 26-year-old officer who violated department policy last year by shooting a Cuban immigrant in the back after a street scuffle in South-Central Los Angeles.

As is his custom in such personnel matters, Gates issued no public statement elaborating on his decision to terminate Officer Rodney W. Kelley, a four-year veteran.

However, insiders said Gates’ decision came as little surprise--even though the chief last month showed leniency toward Kelley’s partner, Officer Daniel Perez, who also was implicated in the shooting of Miguel Angel Herrera.

A police tribunal recommended that Perez be fired for lying to investigators in apparent support of Kelley after Kelley shot Herrera. Instead, Gates ordered that Perez, 26, be suspended for six months, which Gates’ spokesman termed a “more equitable penalty.”

After three days of testimony this week, a department Board of Rights found Kelley guilty of “unnecessarily discharging” his service revolver at Herrera and of lying to detectives afterward. In addition, Kelley was found guilty of insubordination for refusing to testify at Perez’s Board of Rights hearing in October.

Kelley was accused of shooting Herrera after the 30-year-old Cuban refugee, who had a long criminal history, wrested Kelley’s baton away and struck him with it. Kelley argued that he fired in self-defense, but witnesses to the incident, including Perez, told investigators that Herrera was fleeing when he was fatally wounded by one of three shots fired by Kelley.