Gates’ Backers Raising Funds for Legal Bills

A group formed to support Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates in the wake of calls for his resignation is raising money to pay the legal bills the chief has accumulated in his fight to keep his job.

Citizens in Support of the Chief of Police has begun sending solicitation letters to its members in an attempt to raise $250,000 for the newly created Daryl Gates Legal Defense Fund, according to the group’s founder, Peggy Rowe Estrada.

The group began the mailing last week and so far has raised $2,000, she said.

“We must take it upon ourselves to see that Daryl Gates does not stand alone,” Estrada says in the letter. “He certainly has earned our support, our trust, our untiring and generous effort.”

Estrada said she began the fund-raising effort after learning that the city is not reimbursing the chief for the cost of his lawyers. She said Gates did not ask for the help, but did not refuse when she offered it.

The chief is involved in a protracted legal battle with the city Police Commission over the commission’s decision to place him on a 60-day involuntary leave in the wake of the police beating of Rodney G. King. The decision was effectively overturned by a Superior Court judge, but the commission is appealing that decision.