Wounded L.A. Police Rookie Fights to Keep His Patrol Job

All Jay Cicinelli says he’s ever wanted is to be a Los Angeles police officer.

Even after he was shot six times in December during a routine traffic stop.

“As soon as I woke up, I was asking about my job and whether I could go back on patrol,” he said Friday, sitting in his attorney’s office, gearing up for a fight to keep his job. “I want to be a part of the LAPD for as long as I can.”

But Cicinelli says he was leaked internal department memos that indicate he will be fired. He lost his left eye in the shooting, which occurred just 2 1/2 weeks after he graduated from the Police Academy.

“I’m really mad,” he said. “I gave 110% to this department. I gave them one of my eyes.”

Los Angeles Police Department officials refused to comment publicly, citing the confidentiality of personnel issues. But an LAPD source said Cicinelli no longer meets department qualifications, adding that the officer does not have binocular vision or the extent of peripheral vision required.

Said one source: “He’s a probationary employee who no longer meets the standards of the department.”

Nonetheless, officials said that the LAPD has not decided to fire Cicinelli and that his employment is still under consideration.

But Cicinelli, 25, believes otherwise.

An internal department memo that he obtained and was shared with The Times, indicates that the city believes the rookie could be a liability to the department. And Cicinelli said he was told the same thing in a recent meeting with Chief Bernard C. Parks.

“Since the required peripheral vision is lacking in this case,” the memo states, “it is clear that Officer Cicinelli could not work in a full-duty assignment thereby completing his probation.”

The memo, prepared by the department’s Personnel Division, also states that if Cicinelli is protected by the federal Americans With Disabilities Act, assigning him to a desk position “for the next 20 or more years with very little possibility of promotion” would probably not be considered reasonable accommodation under the law.

Lawrence J. Hanna, a Van Nuys attorney representing Cicinelli, said the LAPD assured the young officer that he would return to active patrol duty. “This department loves its officers until they get hurt and disabled,” the lawyer said. “They have to show that there are parts of the job he cannot do. But he can do all parts of the job.”

After Cicinelli spent 88 days recovering, doctors said he could resume full active police duty. He returned to the 77th Street Division in March and has since worked patrol shifts.

On Dec. 14, Cicinelli was on patrol at Florence and Normandie avenues just before 10 p.m. when he pulled over a white car. As he approached the car, he was shot twice, and after he fell to the ground, he said, he was hit four more times.

“It’s a miracle, because every one of those bullets missed something vital,” he said.

To protest against his possible termination, Cicinelli said he will hold a news conference Monday with his lawyers and fellow officers who support him. The event is timed to coincide with an expected court hearing in the trial of a suspect charged with shooting the officer.

In preparation for a federal lawsuit, Cicinelli has already filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charging discrimination. According to his lawyer, the Americans With Disabilities Act protects his client because the department will be required to prove there is a “substantial likelihood” that Cicinelli would harm himself or others on his job. Both the officer and his attorney say that is highly unlikely. In fact, they say Cicinelli has scored high on shooting and driving tests.

During his recovery, the officer said, both then-Chief Willie L. Williams and former Police Commission President Raymond C. Fisher told him he could return to his patrol car. Neither could be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

“I’m not bitter toward the department,” said Cicinelli, whose father is a retired police officer in Anaheim and whose brother is an officer in Downey. “I don’t want any money. I just want my job.”

In another case alleging LAPD bias, the City Council next week is expected to discuss settling a lawsuit with two officers who say they have been discriminated against because they are gay. Lance LaPay, a Newton Division officer, could receive $700,000, and Natasha Benavides, of the Personnel Division, could receive nearly $490,000.

The two, who filed their suit in August 1994, allege that they were subjected to verbal assaults at police stations, slurs and the refusals of other officers to patrol with them. Both were assigned to the Newton Division in 1992 and say the harassment occurred almost daily for two years. Their suit also alleges that the LAPD failed to implement administrative reforms ordered by the City Council in response to a similar suit.

The Police Commission, in a closed session Tuesday, also is expected to review the possible settlement of the suit.