Reports Tell of Warnings Given Fired Officer : Often Chided by S.D. Department Officials for Violent, Aggressive Conduct

Officer Richard D. Draper, who over 10 years was named in many citizen complaints, questionable arrests and violent confrontations, became known as perhaps the most aggressive police officer in San Diego.

Draper, who was fired in May, was forced to turn in his badge because he failed to heed repeated warnings to end his “continuing pattern of misconduct,” according to documents released this week.

The documents filed with the Civil Service Commission reveal in detail the Police Department’s case against the often-controversial Draper, painting him as a cold-hearted cop with a hot temper. Of 1,720 sworn San Diego police officers, Draper is one of only eight who were discharged for misconduct in the last year.

Draper amassed more than 25 complaints from citizens alleging excessive force. He shot and killed a man in 1980 in a case that was later ruled justified. He also was involved in two other shootings that were ruled accidental.

Warned About Conduct

But the notoriety caught up with him earlier this year when Draper allegedly pistol-whipped and threatened to shoot a college student in an off-duty altercation along Interstate 8 in El Cajon.

According to his formal notice of termination released this week, Draper, 39, had been warned in the past about his conduct. He had been suspended and counseled against his overly aggressive behavior. He had been told to shape up.

“The latest incident (in El Cajon) is another in a continuing pattern of misconduct by you,” Police Chief William Kolender summarized in the termination notice.

“In each incident, you have displayed serious problems with your judgment and with your interactions with the public.

“Despite counseling by supervisors and a warning that additional misconduct would result in more severe discipline, you have continued to lose your temper and use excessive or unnecessary force to gain compliance with your demands.”

The document discusses at length the February confrontation with the college student on Interstate 8 in El Cajon, as well as three previous cases in which Draper was suspended or counseled.

Draper could not be reached for comment this week. His attorney, John Heisner, did not return several telephone calls Thursday.

Another police officer fired in the past year was Draper’s wife, Sandra Byers. She was terminated in May because of a hit-and-run accident involving her police car.

Steve Casey, a spokesman in the county district attorney’s office, said Byers was convicted in San Diego Municipal Court last week of the misdemeanor traffic offense.

Police officials said it normally takes only one offense before an officer is fired, as with Byers. But they said Draper was able to hang on so long because many of his alleged infractions involved only himself and the person lodging the complaint. There were no witnesses, and many of the complaints were rejected, the officials said.

But, even from the beginning of his career, there was cause for concern.

“I thought from the start that he’d never pass probation,” said one police official who was a training-academy supervisor while Draper was a student. “You can tell that right away in some guys. The way they talk and act.

“And yet he lasted 10 years.”

Most police officials declined to publicly discuss Draper’s career, saying they do not want to jeopardize their case against him on appeal. However, Cmdr. Keith Enerson said the department is definitely standing behind its reasons for firing Draper.

“The language that’s in the termination notice accurately reflects our feelings about his actions as a member of the Police Department,” Enerson said Thursday.

In the weeks ahead, Draper’s name is expected to be in the news as public hearings on his appeal begin in late August.

And he is due in court Aug. 8 in a civil lawsuit in which a criminal defense lawyer, Richard Boesen, alleges he was falsely arrested by Draper during a courthouse confrontation.

Tom Adler, the attorney for Boesen, said his client accidentally bumped into Draper in a crowded court hallway about five years ago. He said Draper flew into a rage, handcuffed Boesen and arrested him for assaulting an officer. Adler said a criminal charge against Boesen was later dropped.

Adler is also the attorney for Scott McMillan, the college student who says he was assaulted by Draper on the freeway in El Cajon.

He said McMillan was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, his car, to injure Draper during the highway altercation. But Adler said the district attorney has declined to file criminal charges against McMillan.

The attorney said he has since tried unsuccessfully to persuade the district attorney to file criminal charges against Draper for pistol-whipping McMillan, tearing his clothing and threatening to shoot him in the altercation.

He said he now plans to ask the state attorney general’s office to enter the case and file criminal charges against Draper. “We want them to take over the investigation,” he said.

Tipped the Scales

Casey, the district attorney spokesman, said it is doubtful that his office will prosecute Draper. Asked to comment about Adler’s plan to seek justice from the attorney general, Casey said:

“Let him. Mr. Adler knows what the A.G.’s address is, and we’ll be happy to provide him a 25-cent stamp.”

It is clear from Draper’s termination notice that the El Cajon altercation was the pivotal case finally tipping the scales against the officer.

The El Cajon incident occurred Feb. 7. On April 20, Capt. Charles D. Crow, Draper’s commanding officer in the Northern Division, notified the officer that he was being recommended for termination. On May 20, Kolender approved the termination.

The termination notice gives this account of what happened along the highway in El Cajon:

“While off-duty, you pursued Scott McMillan at speeds reaching 100 miles an hour for cutting you off while you were driving your private vehicle.

“You did this in moderate to heavy freeway traffic, interfered with the operation of other vehicles, and endangered the safety of other motorists.”

The notice said Draper then overtook McMillan, forced him to a stop, identified himself as a police officer, and “pointed a loaded revolver at him, yelled profanities and, although he (McMillan) was passive, forcibly removed him from his vehicle.”

According to the notice, Draper told McMillan: “I ought to shoot you for what you just did” and forced him over the hood of his vehicle.

“You continually pointed your gun at him and inadvertently struck him in the back of the head with the gun when he raised himself from the hood. This caused an injury which required medical treatment.

“You then forced McMillan to the side of the road by pointing your gun at him and pulling him by his shirt. This caused his shirt to tear. You tore the shirt completely off.”

The termination notice added that, when a civilian witness asked McMillan if he wanted the police and if anyone was hurt, Draper told the civilian: “No, but somebody’s gonna be.”

The document charged Draper with violating five Police Department regulations:

- Unsafely handling his revolver, which caused him to accidentally strike McMillan on the head.

- Using unnecessary force by bending McMillan over the hood of the vehicle and tearing his shirt.

- Engaging in a “groundless high-speed pursuit” on the highway.

- Acting rude and discourteous.

- And displaying conduct unbecoming of an officer “by being overly aggressive, obviously angry and, according to witnesses, irrational and out of control.”

Other disciplinary actions noted in the report including an April, 1987, incident in which Draper “intimidated a suspect in custody by holding a flashlight to his chest and grabbing his shirt when he would not comply with your requests.”

In August, Draper “used improper procedures . . . by threatening a doctor with arrest if he failed to comply” with his requests.

And he received a one-day suspension and disciplinary transfer for an incident in August, 1983, in which he was “screaming at and physically intimidating a taxi driver in an attempt to have him move his vehicle.”

“On each of these occasions,” the termination notice said, “you were counseled that further instances of misconduct would result in more severe disciplinary action.”