The Region : L.A. to Pay ‘Framed’ Officer $97,000

The Los Angeles City Council agreed to pay $97,000 to an officer who sued the Police Department for trying to “frame” him on charges of stealing marijuana. Officer James L. Tomer, 39, an 18-year veteran assigned to the Hollywood Division, contended that an internal affairs investigator in June, 1984, was overzealous in his attempts to prove allegations that Tomer had failed to turn in small quantities of drugs seized on the street. Tomer later was cleared of the charges but still pursued a lawsuit against the department. A U.S. District Court jury awarded him $55,000 in damages--the first time an officer has successfully sued the department’s Internal Affairs Division. Rather than appealing the decision, the City Council voted to pay the award plus another $42,000 in attorney’s fees to Tomer’s lawyer, Stephen Yagman.