2 LAPD Officers Cleared in Suit by Subordinate
A federal jury took an hour Friday to clear two LAPD officers of allegations that they violated the rights of a former officer who had been put on the night shift and denied a promotion.
Capt. Robert Kimball and Lt. Joseph Germain, now both retired, refused to comment outside court about their victory in the lawsuit brought by Bobby Rydell Marshall.
Days before Marshall filed the suit in September 1991, he learned he was the subject of an Internal Affairs Division investigation regarding a 1989 robbery.
In the complaint, Marshall alleged that after speaking out about racism within the department to reporters and Christopher Commission lawyers, he was denied a promotion into the LAPD’s anti-drug program DARE and put on the night shift.
He also claimed he was prosecuted for the robbery of a Lawndale check-cashing store because he talked to the commission investigating the LAPD in the wake of the March 1991 Rodney King beating. Marshall ended up serving 33 months in jail for the holdup.
Deputy City Atty. Quentin Cole said “there have been plenty of people [in the department] who have spoken out against racism. I don’t think this verdict will have an effect.”
Marshall’s attorney, Stephen Yagman, said he will appeal.
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