Officer in Arrest Sting Takes a Paid Leave

Long Beach Police Officer Mark Dickey was so distressed to hear that the city had dropped the resisting-arrest case against anti-brutality crusader Don Jackson that he coughed up blood and has taken a paid leave, officials said Thursday. “He’s been under quite a bit of stress,” said Long Beach Police Sgt. Gary Halliday, who said Dickey was placed on paid “injured-on-duty” status Wednesday after the coughing episode and was taken to a doctor. Dickey stopped Jackson for an alleged traffic violation, then apparently pushed him into a plate-glass window Jan. 14 while a TV crew secretly filmed the incident. Dickey arrested Jackson for allegedly interfering with a police officer, but the Long Beach prosecutor Wednesday dropped the charge, saying the case was too weak to prove. The Long Beach Police Department, the FBI and the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office are all investigating the arrest to determine whether disciplinary action or criminal charges should be filed against Dickey.