Policewoman Allegedly Was Roughed Up

A Los Angeles police captain who commands the city’s busiest division is being investigated for possible misconduct after he allegedly roughed up a female desk officer who tried to stop him from taking a card that she had received in a bouquet of flowers.

The incident involved Capt. Jerry W. Conner, 49, commander of the 77th Street station in South-Central Los Angeles, and Officer Patricia Ibarra, 24, described by one co-worker as a “5-foot, 95-pound pixie.”

Conner, who stands 6 feet 3 inches and weighs 215 pounds, was vacationing in Arkansas on Friday and could not be reached for comment on the incident. Ibarra has been told not to publicly discuss the case, which is being investigated by the department’s Internal Affairs Division.

On Friday, a high-ranking officer familiar with the incident said: “It would appear that (Conner) was out of line, but that’s him. He is very autocratic. He thinks he’s a general or something.”

It is the second time this year that internal investigators have focused on Conner, whose district traditionally leads the city in murders, rapes and robberies.

In March, Conner was formally reprimanded after failing to notify his supervisors that he was operating a car wash in his district with one of his senior officers. That officer, Warren Lynch, 42, was relieved of duty in March amid allegations that he was fraudulently billing a health insurance company for medical treatments he never received.

Following a board of rights hearing, Lynch was fired this week from the force.

Details of Incident

According to 77th Street officers familiar with the Ibarra incident, Conner was walking past the station’s front desk when he noticed her bouquet and the note that had been delivered with it. A two-year veteran of the force, Ibarra had been temporarily assigned to desk duty after injuring her neck.

Without asking, officers said, Conner took the note and asked Ibarra who sent her flowers. The note did not indicate from whom the flowers came.

Ibarra did not answer the captain’s question, but instead asked him to return the note, witnesses said. Conner then began walking away, saying he was going to make copies of the note and post it on the station’s bulletin board.

‘Yelling at Each Other’

“He said that it was his station, which meant that he could read anything he wanted. He started walking to the Xerox machine and she stood in his path,” one officer said. “By this time, they’re yelling at each other and a lot of people are coming out their offices to see what’s going on.

“She tries to reach around him to get the card and that’s when he shoves her the first time. She tried again to get the card and he shoved her again, pretty hard.”

Within days of the incident, Ibarra was “loaned” to the Police Department’s Southwest area station.

“She couldn’t believe what happened to her,” said Bill Violante, a director of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the department’s largest union. “I think her initial reaction was fear.”

Ibarra went to a doctor to have her neck and shoulders examined as a result of the incident, Violante said. He said she is expected to meet with league directors to discuss, among other issues, the possibility of suing Conner.