Officer With Tough-Guy Image Fired : Pistol-Whipping Is Latest Alleged Abuse

San Diego Police Officer Richard D. Draper, target of many citizen allegations of excessive force, has been fired by the department because of an incident earlier this year in which he allegedly pistol-whipped a college student during an off-duty altercation in El Cajon, sources said Tuesday.

Draper’s wife, Sandra Byers, is also being terminated as a San Diego police officer and is being prosecuted for a hit-and-run accident involving her police car earlier this year.

Although police officials declined to publicly discuss the two firings, five police sources confirmed that Draper and Byers are being dismissed.

Draper, a police officer for 10 years, has earned a departmental reputation as a hard-charging patrolman. He also has been sharply criticized by fellow officers, lawyers and judges as hot-tempered and overly aggressive.

He shot and killed a man in 1980 in a case that was ruled justifiable because the man brandished a knife. He was also involved in two other shootings that were ruled accidental. By 1985, he had amassed more than 20 citizens’ complaints alleging excessive force.

Draper recently was criticized for allegedly harassing Chip Doonan, a young Clairemont man killed in January by two other San Diego police officers.

Neither Draper nor Byers could be reached for comment Tuesday.

Police Chief Bill Kolender, who has in the past defended Draper, declined to comment Tuesday about the firings.

Incident in El Cajon

Sources said the decision to fire Draper was linked to an incident in February on Interstate 8 in El Cajon. After an altercation, Scott McMillan alleged, Draper and Byers, in their personal car, chased him on the interstate, and Draper later struck him over the head with his gun.

Tom Adler, an El Cajon attorney who is representing McMillan, said the Feb. 7 altercation occurred between Draper and Byers, who were in their mini-truck, and McMillan and his girlfriend, who were in a second mini-truck.

Adler said Draper apparently felt that McMillan had “cut him off in traffic, so he began tailgating him, basically pushing him down the freeway.”

“Scott McMillan is a young guy,” Adler said. “He goes to San Diego State. He works at an El Cajon feed store. And he got scared. He thought this fellow was angry. So he pulled onto the off-ramp to get away.”

Adler said Draper followed McMillan down the ramp. He said McMillan, not realizing that Draper was a police officer, tried to avoid him by returning quickly to the interstate. He said Draper chased McMillan back onto the interstate. He said the two trucks then began barreling down the highway at speeds up to 100 m.p.h.

The attorney said McMillan again left the freeway and, when he reached a stop light, Draper swerved and cut him off.

“He got out of his car with his gun drawn, pointing right at Scott’s face,” Adler said of Draper. “Scott was terrified. Draper was screaming profanities. He went to the driver’s side door with the gun pointed directly towards his head, yelling at him to get out.

“Scott got out. Draper grabbed him and threw him over the truck and hit him over the head with his gun. The kid was bleeding on the hood of the car.

“Draper then ripped his shirt off his back and threw him down and arrested him.”

Adler said that Byers, meanwhile, ordered McMillan’s girlfriend out of the truck and called sheriff’s deputies and El Cajon police.

McMillan was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly trying to use his truck to injure Draper and Byers, but the district attorney’s office declined to prosecute, Adler said.

He said he has since written letters to the prosecutor’s office, demanding that assault charges be filed against Draper.

“This is an officer who goes out and seeks out problems in the community instead of just arresting people who come to his attention,” Adler said. “I want to see what the D.A. is going to do about Officer Draper. If no action is taken, it’s a travesty of justice.”

If charges are not filed, Adler added, he will refer the case to the state attorney general’s office or the U.S. attorney’s Office.

Allan Preckel, chief of special operations for the district attorney’s office, said he is still weighing whether to file charges against Draper.

“I wouldn’t rule out that possibility,” he said. “It’s our office’s position that we have yet to reach a final determination on the matter.”

Preckel’s office also investigated the Doonan shooting and ruled that the death was “a needless tragedy” that could have been prevented. However the district attorney’s office concluded that Officer Ron Featherly was justified in shooting Doonan because he did not realize that a gun carried by Doonan was an air pistol.

The district attorney, in its report on the case, also discussed criticisms by Doonan’s family and neighbors, who said Draper had been harassing Doonan. Draper had twice arrested Doonan over the previous year on drug possession charges. Neither of the cases was prosecuted.

The district attorney’s report quoted Doonan’s friends as overhearing Draper swear that “he wouldn’t rest until he saw Doonan dead.”

The district attorney characterized Draper’s feelings as those of a “frustrated police officer attempting to make an arrest stick on Doonan.”

But, the report added, “we reject any suggestion that Doonan’s death is connected with prior police conduct.”

Draper was hired in 1978, after earlier employment applications were rejected by three other law-enforcement agencies, including the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles Police Department.

Hit-and-Run Charge

Byers was hired by the San Diego Police Department in 1982.

Preckel said she is being prosecuted on a misdemeanor charge of hit-and-run in which she allegedly backed her police vehicle into a parked car in February and failed to notify the car’s owner and the Police Department.

The Municipal Court case carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.