LOS ANGELES : U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Appeal by Ex-LAPD Official
The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to hear an appeal by an ex-assistant Los Angeles police chief who sued the city over an investigation into whether his religious beliefs affected his job performance.
Robert Vernon, an elder in Sun Valley’s Grace Community Church, said the 1991 Police Commission-ordered probe hindered his ability to practice his religion.
He was in charge of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Office of Operations under former Police Chief Daryl F. Gates from 1978 to June, 1992.
“I am very disappointed that the court declined to hear my case, where my career and reputation were destroyed by religious bigotry,” Vernon said in a statement released by his attorney.
Attorney David Casterline said “the Supreme Court’s declination to grant a review sets a dangerous precedent affecting all public employees and religious persons.”
But Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky said the nation’s highest court validated the decision to look into the allegations about Vernon.
Yaroslavsky was named as a defendant in Vernon’s lawsuit, along with the city, City Council and then-Police Commissioners Jesse Brewer, Stanley Sheinbaum and Melanie Lomax.
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