Local News in Brief : Officer’s Firing Upheld
A police review board Thursday upheld the firing of a black Los Angeles police lieutenant for lying during a molestation investigation, provoking an angry response from the man’s lawyer, who charged that racism was the root of the dismissal.
“This is a travesty,” said Laurence Labovitz, attorney for former Vice Lt. Ronald Williams. “This all-white board . . . is nothing but a bunch of 14-karat bigots.”
The Police Department’s Board of Rights said Williams, a 20-year veteran fired by Police Chief Daryl F. Gates last summer, had lied to investigators and the board about allegations that he had shown sexually explicit videos to two teen-age girls.
Members of the board declined to respond to Labovitz’s statements.
The allegations came to light when Williams was accused last year by a girl, who is 16 now, of fondling her several times in 1983. It was too late to prosecute him on the charges because of the statute of limitations, but police conducted an internal investigation.
Williams maintains that he did not show the videos and did not lie to investigators.
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