Gates Put on Leave, Pledges to Appeal Commission Action : King beating: Police chief says he has been disgraced. His lawyers will ask court on Monday to overturn decision.

The Los Angeles Police Commission, saying it was acting in the “best interests of the Police Department,” temporarily relieved Chief Daryl F. Gates of his duties on Thursday until it completes a wide-ranging investigation begun in the aftermath of the beating of Rodney G. King.

In his place, the commission appointed Assistant Chief David D. Dotson to serve as acting chief, and the 33-year police veteran immediately called upon the 8,300 sworn members of the LAPD “to put this crisis behind us and get on with what we do best, serving the people of this city.”

Gates emerged with his attorneys from an hourlong, closed-door commission meeting, vowing to fight on for his job. His lawyers said they would take legal action Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

“I feel that I have been disgraced and defamed,” said the chief, biting his lip. “I have done nothing wrong. What they have done is improper and we’re going to prove that.”

But the commissioners said their decision--coming two days after Mayor Tom Bradley called on Gates to resign--will hold up during the next 60 days, the time the commission needs to complete its investigation.

“The commission is confident,” said Vice President Melanie Lomax, “that the action we have taken is on sound legal grounds and that the court will back us.”

Also on Thursday:

Within minutes of Gates’ departure, some City Council members decried the commission’s action. A few, noting that their constituents were clamoring for Bradley’s resignation, said they may attempt to settle any Gates lawsuit in order to reinstate him.

At Parker Center police headquarters, many police officers strung dark ribbons over their badges, a tribute normally paid to officers killed in the line of duty. Others talked about a possible job slowdown. Emotions were so intense that one police employee stormed into the commission’s meeting room and shouted: “Does this mean you’re going to get rid of everybody else in the department!”

Throughout the city, community groups, which have rallied both for and against Gates, reacted quickly. The ACLU hailed the commission’s action, while Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block called it outrageous. “Even my wife broke down and cried when I told her,” he said.

It was a day of unusual turmoil in city government, with pro-Gates and pro-Bradley factions planning their next moves in the high-stakes face-off.

When Gates walked into the commission meeting at mid-morning, he appeared calm and relaxed, sometimes smiling at what lay ahead.

When he left an hour later, he appeared a little shaken, but all the more convinced that Bradley had lied to the public when he said in recent weeks that he had no hidden agenda to oust the chief.

“I must admit that I cannot believe him any longer,” Gates said of the mayor. “I think this has all been well-orchestrated.”

Gates’ privately retained attorney, Jay Grodin, said he planned to go to court Monday to overturn the leave of absence. But the longtime Gates ally declined to discuss his legal strategy, except to note that the commission failed to cite a specific reason for its action.

The lawyer said his client continues to hold the title of chief of police. But, Grodin said, Gates cannot perform the official functions of the chief and cannot even appear at Parker Center in any official capacity.

“He can’t come in here,” Grodin said, “except for normal personal matters, like if he wanted to visit someone.”

Gates returned to his office shortly before noon and met with his advisers behind closed doors. His aides later brought in take-out food, and the chief ate half a tuna sandwich. “He’s lost his appetite,” one aide explained.

Gates remained inside his office through most of the afternoon, stepping briefly outside once or twice. He finally left headquarters late in the afternoon, walking out with two satchels of personal items under his arm.

Asked if he would turn in his badge and gun, he answered testily: “Absolutely not. I’m a peace officer of the State of California.”

He also gave a thumbs-up sign as he left and vowed: “I’ll be back.”

Police spokesman Lt. Fred Nixon said Dotson will move into Gates’ office only if “he finds he needs to because of certain ceremonial things that can be handled in that ceremonial setting.”

In explaining its decision to temporarily remove Gates, the Police Commission cited provision No. 3-840.10 in the LAPD’s Management Rules and Procedures. The section, titled “Inactive Duty,” states:

“When it is contrary to the best interest of the Department for employees to continue their regular duties while awaiting investigation or formal disciplinary action, they may be assigned to inactive duty by their acting commander, commanding officer, or the commanding officer, Internal Affairs Division.”

Gates, as chief of police, reports directly to the commission.

The commission was responding to public outcries following the beating of King, a 25-year-old black parolee from Altadena who was repeatedly struck by police officers after a car chase in the San Fernando Valley. Four Foothill Division officers are now awaiting trial on charges that include assault. Unknown to the officers, the arrest was captured on videotape by an amateur cameraman, and its impact after being televised worldwide has caused a furor over police brutality.

Gates has come under fire for his contentions that the King beating was an “aberration.” There have also been revelations that some of the white officers involved in the beating made racial slurs shortly before the incident.

There also have been widespread allegations from various local groups, many of them in the minority communities, that the LAPD under Gates’ leadership has spawned a climate in which officers routinely abuse blacks and Latinos.

Three members of the commission took part in Thursday’s decision to place Gates on leave. They included commission President Daniel Garcia, Lomax and Samuel Williams. Absent was Stanley Sheinbaum, who was sworn in Wednesday and immediately left on a European trip. A fifth member has yet to be appointed.

Garcia, who was elected president on Tuesday, said the move should not be seen as punishment of Gates. He said the commission has not determined that Gates is guilty of any misconduct in his performance of duties or that he has failed to provide adequate leadership since the March 3 beating of King.

“We emphasize that this action is not punitive in nature, and results in no loss of pay or benefits for Chief Gates,” Garcia said.

“More importantly, it should not be taken by the public as reflecting any conclusion as to whether the chief should be charged and disciplined in the future.”

But, Garcia added, the commission relieved Gates of his duties “in light of recent and serious allegations of mismanagement and neglect of duty by the chief of police.”

He said the commission hopes that Gates’ leave will not last longer than 60 days, when the commission’s investigation should be completed. He said that if Gates is not proven derelict in his duties, he will be returned to his job.

“The next 60 days will provide a period for calm, reflective action,” he said, “and it will provide the opportunity for us to make sure we don’t have anything that is duplicative” of what happened in the King beating.

Garcia also deflected criticism from community groups that wanted Gates fired. He said the commission debated a wide range of alternatives in how to handle the situation.

“I don’t think there is any option we didn’t consider,” he said.

But he disagreed with Gates’ feelings that he had been “disgraced.”

“That was certainly not our intent,” the commission president said. “It was not our intention in any way to do that to him. We are not issuing a statement here that he is guilty in any way.”

He and Lomax said they believe their action is defensible in court, and that if Gates files suit, a judge will side with the commission.

The closed-door session was marked with rancor as Gates threatened to sue each commissioner personally and made a last-minute attempt to have Garcia disqualified from judging him.

Gates cited a 6-month-old LAPD investigation into whether Garcia improperly raised campaign funds from developers for Bradley in 1986 when Garcia chaired the city’s Planning Commission, according to sources close to the commission.

“This was pretty unpleasant today,” Garcia said.

Grodin, however, gave a different version. “Chief Gates never raised his voice; he was calm and cool. That’s why he’s been chief so long.”

Another Gates attorney, Harry G. Melkonian, described the meeting this way:

“The chief was called in with his counsel for (the commission members) to present their proposal. They listened to him, and then handed him a written note that he leave.

“In short, it was a farce, a conviction without a trial. There were no allegations of mismanagement. They were just doing it, and they were not giving any allegations or specifications about why.”

After Gates left the commission’s closed meeting room, he was hugged by one aide, and then surrounded by other Police Department employees. Then, Dotson entered the commission’s room and was told of his appointment as acting chief.

Afterward, he defended Gates, thanking him for promoting him over the years and wishing him good luck. He also said his primary objective will be to heal the damage caused to the department’s reputation by the King beating.

“I have a commitment to the people of this city to provide the best police service they can get,” he said. “That’s what we want to do. So I ask for their help in this very difficult period.”

Dotson refused to comment on the King incident, saying he did not want to jeopardize the trial of the four officers. Asked if he agreed with Gates that the King beating was an aberration, he said:

“This is a model Police Department. But like any large organization, there are going to be some unfortunate incidents from time to time.”

The Politics

At City Hall, various council members were quickly designing alternative plans on how to deal with the crisis.

Some were devising legal maneuvers to try to save Gates.

One option to be considered today was settling any lawsuit filed by Gates in his favor and reinstating him.

Under another plan, the council would deny funding for a private law firm the Police Commission wants to hire in the event Gates takes the commission panel to court.

Throughout City Hall, rhetoric was sharp and voices pitched high.

City Council President John Ferraro said at least 10 council members strongly object to the Police Commission’s decision to place Gates on leave. “I think that they’re a loose cannon,” Ferraro said. “I think that is a dangerous group to have in there.”

Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky called the situation a “crisis in governance” that is “ripping . . . the people of this city apart and has now driven a wedge between the various branches of city government to no constructive end.”

Councilman Joel Wachs likened Bradley to former President Richard M. Nixon, who resigned in disgrace. “It’s a naked political power grab and it’s got to be stopped,” he said. “Not since Richard Nixon, has anyone employed the ends justifying the means as we’ve seen in this case.”

But Bradley, after returning from a trip to Sacramento, said the commission had done the right thing.

“It is my hope that today’s Police Commission action will give us all time to bridge the differences that have grown between us since the Rodney King incident,” he said.

He referred to Gates’ leave of absence as a “time-out,” and added: “The Police Commission is using a well-established procedure that the chief himself often applies to officers under investigation.”

In addition, Garcia said his panel will not cave in to political influence.

“The City Council is not the operating body of this department,” Garcia said.

The LAPD

Throughout Parker Center, rank-and-file officers and members of the chief’s high command reacted angrily to the news that Gates was told to vacate his sixth-floor office, where he has served as the city’s top law enforcement official for the last 13 years. Chief of Staff George Morrison, one of Gates’ top commanders, strung a dark ribbon over his badge. “It’s better than losing my temper over this,” he said.

George Aliano, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League claimed that “no one’s getting the message how upset we are.” He declared that if Gates doesn’t get his job back, the police union will hold mass meetings to consider protests that could lead to some unprecedented job action.

He suggested that rank-and-file officers will consider work slowdowns or other activities. Shortly after Gates was placed on leave, officers were seen writing an unusual number of jaywalking tickets around City Hall.

Capt. Doug Watson, who heads the LAPD unit probing political corruption cases and is currently investigating the mayor’s fund-raising operation, said he was “sick to my stomach (and) disgusted” by what had happened to Gates.

He predicted that the events of Thursday will lead to the politicization of law enforcement.

“Fear of an investigation” by an independent police chief has helped keep graft out of city government, he said. Gates’ ouster and any effort to bring the chief under the control of the mayor will mean police commanders will “rely on the milk flowing out of the breast of the police chief. The department becomes a political animal.”

He then said that after 27 years on the Police Department, he is retiring. “This did it,” he said.

Lt. Fred Reno said he will assume supervision of the investigation until a new captain is named. He added, however, that the mayor’s move to oust Gates will not be a factor in the contributing probe.

“It’s incumbent upon us at this time that the public knows the investigation we are conducting is going to go on with great integrity with no pressure,” he said. “No matter whose name comes up, there will be no witch hunt. This is the Los Angeles Police Department.”

The Community

Community reaction was sharply divided along lines espoused by the Gates and Bradley camps.

Ramona Ripston, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, praised the Police Commission for putting “the control of city’s police force squarely back in the hands of the civilians.”

Danny Bakewell, president of the Brotherhood Crusade, a group active in the black community, also defended Bradley and the Police Commission.

“I think the action he (Bradley) took showed he was the mayor of all the people,” Bakewell said. “He gave Daryl Gates enough rope to either distinguish himself or hang himself, and I think Daryl Gates chose the latter.”

But attorney Stephen Yagman, an unrelenting Gates critic who has built a career out of suing the LAPD, wrote Gates a letter encouraging him to “hold his ground.”

“It’s outrageous to put the chief of police on a paid leave of absence without first affording him all of his rights,” Yagman said. “Even the police chief is entitled to due process of law.”

Yet, Steven Lerman, who is pressing a multimillion-dollar claim against the city on behalf of King, said his client believes the commission has signaled to the community that police brutality will not be tolerated.

“He wants to be the last man the police ever beat up,” Lerman said.

Times staff writers Leslie Berger, Paul Feldman, Paul Lieberman, James Rainey and Tracy Wood contributed to this story.

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