LAPD Ordered to Rehire Officer Fired in Sex Case

For the second time in two years, a Superior Court judge Tuesday ordered the reinstatement of a veteran Los Angeles police lieutenant who was fired for failing to respond fully during a departmental investigation of alleged sexual misconduct.

But Lt. Ronald Williams, 47, formerly assigned to the vice squad at the Police Department’s 77th Division in South Los Angeles, said that given his two-year battle to get his job back, he won’t celebrate until he gets his first paycheck.

“I’m pleased,” the 22-year police veteran said of the decision by Superior Court Judge David P. Yaffe. “My only apprehension would be if the city develops other tactics to continue to deny me my job.”

LAPD spokesman Cmdr. William Booth said Tuesday that Chief Daryl F. Gates was disappointed and “amazed” by the judge’s ruling for Williams, who has been convicted by three police Board of Rights tribunals in connection with the departmental inquiry.

Before deciding whether to appeal Tuesday’s ruling, Booth said, “We will take a close look at all of our legal options. And whatever is done will be legal.”

The Police Department maintains that Williams effectively retired from the force when he began drawing benefits from the police force pension fund. Williams and his attorney, Laurence B. Labovitz, contend that he made it clear all along that he was drawing from the pension fund while he was pursuing legal efforts to win back his job.

Judge Yaffe agreed Tuesday that the City Charter does preclude officers above the rank of sergeant from returning to active duty after retirement except by invitation of the chief of police. But he said Williams made “a mistake” in believing he could accept the pension benefits and still return to active duty if he prevailed in the disciplinary case.

Judge Yaffe further ruled that it was the city’s responsibility to have better advised Williams of his rights. He ordered Williams reinstated with back pay, to be offset by the amount paid in pension benefits.

Labovitz estimated that his client would be entitled to between $40,000 and $60,000, after the pension payments have been deducted.

Deputy City Atty. A. David Hotchkiss, who represents the city and the LAPD in the case, criticized the ruling, saying it is “a little bit like someone going through divorce proceedings, then claiming spousal rights after the fact.”

Williams, who joined the LAPD in 1967 and, according to his attorney, is one of only about 15 black lieutenants in a department of 8,000, initially was suspended from the force in July, 1987. Gates recommended on Aug. 4, 1987, that he be fired.

Labovitz, who has repeatedly claimed that Williams is being discriminated against because he is black, said he plans next month to file suit in federal court, claiming that the Police Department--and Chief Gates personally--has violated the officer’s civil rights.

Williams’ suspension followed an internal investigation of allegations that he had shown sexually explicit videotapes to two teen-age girls several years earlier.

Because the misconduct complaints were made after a one-year statute of limitations had elapsed, he could only be disciplined on the charges of failing to respond adequately during the internal investigation.

In the fall of 1987, a departmental Board of Rights agreed that the termination was justified.

In May, 1988, a Superior Court judge ruled that the punishment of firing was too severe and ordered Williams reinstated. A state appeals court affirmed that ruling, but a second board of rights hearing concluded again that Williams should be fired.

Williams--who said Tuesday, “I would like to go back to the same division, to the same job”--has denied the allegations of sexual misconduct.

But Hotchkiss said Tuesday that “to prove Lt. Williams had made false statements (to investigators), we had to prove that the (alleged sexual) misconduct occurred. And we did that.”

Booth said Tuesday the only reason a third Board of Rights panel decided in December, 1989, to give Williams a 30-day suspension, rather than fire him, was because the officer had “voluntarily retired.”

“Bear in mind, the findings of guilty were still there,” Booth said.

Labovitz said that if Gates continues to block the officer’s return, he will ask the court to punish the police chief with a jail sentence.

“This is a good officer. He has served the city of Los Angeles well. He deserves to be reinstated to his job. . . . Lt. Williams looks forward to many long years of active duty with the LAPD.”