Local News in Brief : Officer Fined, Put on 2-Year Probation
Veteran Los Angeles police officer Michael Sillers was sentenced Thursday to two years of informal probation, fined $2,050 and ordered to perform 300 hours of community service for beating up an undercover officer who was posing as a narcotics suspect.
Sillers was found guilty by a Municipal Court jury Sept. 21 of one count each of battery and assault under color of authority, both misdemeanors.
Witnesses said the 37-year-old Sillers struck, kicked and kneed Officer Ed White last February while White and another undercover officer were handcuffed to a bench in the Southeast Division police station, where they had been sent to investigate allegations that jail personnel were stealing from prisoners.
On Thursday, Municipal Judge Carol Goodson offered Sillers a choice between going to County Jail for 30 days or performing community service. He chose the latter.
Cmdr. William Booth, Los Angeles Police Department spokesman, said earlier that a misdemeanor conviction in itself did not mean the officer would lose his job--unless he went to jail and was unable to appear for work.
Sillers has already been punished by the department, serving a 66-day suspension recommended by a Board of Rights that found him guilty of misconduct.
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