Activist Seeks $1 Million in LAPD Rights Case

Political activist Michael Zinzun filed a $1-million claim against the Los Angeles Police Department on Thursday, charging that information about him was illegally gathered and disbursed by police while he was running for office in Pasadena.

Zinzun said police and city officials covered up an investigation of the February incident, which ended with Police Chief Daryl F. Gates verbally reprimanding Assistant Chief Robert L. Vernon.

The claim alleges that Zinzun’s privacy, his civil rights and the terms of a previous court ruling barring police from spying on lawful citizens were violated.

Prelude to Filing Suit

The claim, which also names Gates and Vernon, is a prelude to filing a lawsuit. The city has 45 days to act after which a lawsuit can be filed under state law.

Asked about the claim, Gates insisted that Vernon did not take any sensitive information about Zinzun from police intelligence files. Rather, he said, the data came from a non-classified computer data base that consists mainly of electronic versions of newspaper and magazine articles.

“I don’t blame Zinzun for not believing me because I would never believe anything Zinzun ever had to say,” Gates said.

He acknowledged, however, that the computer terminal through which Vernon received the information has been moved from the anti-terrorist division and will be relocated in the office of Cmdr. William Booth, Gates’ spokesman.

In February, Vernon was rebuked by Gates after his use of the computer to gather data on Zinzun, a former Black Panther who in March waged his third unsuccessful campaign for Pasadena’s Board of Directors. Zinzun blamed his defeat partially on the incident.

Data for Rivals

Gates has said Vernon, a Pasadena resident, had printed out from the computer 156 pages of data for Zinzun’s political rivals. Gates said he intervened before Vernon could deliver the information. Department regulations prohibit personnel from using police resources for anything but official business.

Zinzun, a member of the Coalition Against Police Abuse, was a key figure in the 1983 dismantling of the department’s Public Disorder Intelligence Division, which had illegally spied and kept intelligence files on hundreds of citizens.

Some of those files had been removed by a PDID detective who channeled the data to an ultra-right-wing group. In 1983, the city settled the suit for $1.8 million, and the PDID was replaced by the Anti-Terrorist Division.

Zinzun and his attorney, Dan Stormer, said they believe the data Vernon requested included police intelligence not in the public domain.

The City Council called for an investigation by the Police Commission, the department’s civilian review board.

Handled in Executive Session

Booth said the issue was handled by the commission in executive session “to the satisfaction of everyone involved,” including the interested council members.

A spokesman for Councilman Robert Farrell, who originally called for the investigation, said the council had asked for a report but had not set a deadline.

Zinzun a year ago agreed to a $1.2-million settlement with the Pasadena police over a 1986 incident at a housing complex in northwest Pasadena, which left him permanently blind in one eye.

Times staff writer David Freed contributed to this article.