Officer’s Discrimination Suit Dismissed but May Be Refiled

Don Jackson, the Hawthorne police sergeant who has crusaded against alleged racism in Southern California police departments, has lost the first round in his discrimination lawsuit against the Hawthorne Police Department.

Judge William Willett issued a preliminary ruling last week in Torrance Superior Court dismissing Jackson’s lawsuit, which claimed the department and seven employees discriminated against him because he is black.

Willett sustained the arguments by the lawyer representing the city, Richard R. Terzian, who claimed that Jackson had not presented his complaints in the proper forum or in a timely manner.

But Jackson has 45 days from last Thursday’s ruling to amend the lawsuit, which could then be reinstated by the judge.

Willett did not comment on the merits of the case and declined to discuss his ruling with a reporter.

Jackson, 30, has been on stress disability leave for nearly two years, since he accused fellow police officers of racism. His request for disability retirement due to stress was denied in August by the city manager. Jackson receives $240 a week, about one-fourth of his sergeant’s salary, in temporary disability pay.

Linked to Promotion

Jackson’s lawsuit claims his five years on active duty with the Hawthorne Police Department were marred by “a never-ending stream of racial epithets, taunts and slurs” that peaked when he was promoted to sergeant in December, 1986.

The lawsuit demands an unspecified judgment for lost earnings and damages.

In its successful brief, the city argued that Jackson’s lawsuit should be dismissed because he has not exhausted administrative remedies through the city’s Civil Service Commission and City Council. Terzian also argued that many of Jackson’s complaints against his fellow officers are more than a year old, exceeding the statute of limitations for civil complaints.

Terzian said the city has a process through which personnel complaints can be appealed to the Civil Service Commission and then to the City Council, which Jackson chose not to follow.

“I think it’s a victory, but it’s only a preliminary round,” Terzian said.

City and Police Department officials declined to comment.

Jackson said he is confident that the lawsuit will be permitted to proceed once it is amended, although he did not know how the legal issues would be addressed. Jackson’s lawyer could not be reached for comment.

Remains Optimistic

“I see it as a small setback,” Jackson said in an interview Wednesday. “It doesn’t speak to the issue of the validity of any of my charges. It doesn’t address whether any of these things happened or should they happen or will they continue in the future.”

Jackson said he did not feel that appealing his case to the Civil Service Commission would have helped.

“I don’t see that the Civil Service Commission has been vigilant on the issue of racism in the Police Department,” Jackson said. “The city departments are all in bed together. They have very low credibility.”

In the 20 months that he has been on leave, Jackson has become a political activist on the issues of police brutality and racial discrimination. He formed a group called Law Enforcement Officers for Justice to represent minority officers. The organization has encouraged discrimination lawsuits against the Santa Monica and Glendale police departments.

In September, Jackson spoke at a press conference held by six young men who filed a suit alleging brutality by Torrance police. The six--five whites and a black--presented a videotape--which later was broadcast nationally--to bolster their allegations that two officers used excessive force in breaking up a noisy party in a private home in May.

In February, Jackson conducted what he called a “sting” operation, accompanying half a dozen young blacks to Westwood in an attempt to prove that minorities were being harassed by Los Angeles police in the upscale shopping area. Two weeks earlier a bystander had been killed during a gang dispute there.

During the “sting,” several of the teen-agers were stopped and questioned by police. Jackson was charged with interfering with a police investigation but the charges were dropped. Police Chief Daryl F. Gates said then that the group had baited police and that there were “known gang members” among the teen-agers.

Jackson said that the youths, who were not wearing gang attire, were stopped only because of their color. “My question is, do preppy college kids have to spread their legs and squat when they’re contacted by the LAPD?” he said.