Judge’s Ruling on Chief Gates

The question of whether Gates is the man for his job may be open to debate, but there is no question that, as the supervising officer during the King incident, Koon did not perform his duties as prescribed by department training and procedure. He deserves removal from the force.

The bottom line in that regretful occurrence is, had Koon done the job he was paid to do, he would have stopped the beating after the first blow was struck, had the suspect handcuffed and transported to the nearest police station.

Had he done his job he might be entitled to question another’s, even his chief’s, job performance. However his actions, as displayed by the tape, make his understanding of police business suspect. This should negate any statement on, or questions of, the LAPD or its leadership he might make.

ROBERT E. LEITER, Fullerton