Sergeant Files Slander Lawsuit Against Mayor

An LAPD sergeant said Monday that he has sued Mayor Richard Riordan alleging that the mayor slandered him last year by calling him a “racist.”

“This man has destroyed my career,” Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Ronnie Cato said of the mayor. “How can I effectively do my job now?”

Riordan allegedly called Cato a “racist” when responding in July to a letter the sergeant wrote to city officials concerning then-Deputy Chief Mark Kroeker. The letter criticized Kroeker’s character at a time when he was in the running for the department’s top job.

A spokeswoman for Riordan said the mayor was unaware of the lawsuit and would withhold comment until he had seen the complaint. Cato, who filed the suit three weeks ago, is seeking more than $300 million in damages. Also listed as defendants are the LAPD and the city of Los Angeles.

In his letter to city officials last year, Cato--a vice president of a black officers association--suggested that race relations would suffer if Kroeker was selected as chief. Cato called Kroeker a “great deceiver of the people” and a “hypocrite” who treated white officers better than black officers.

Despite his strongly worded letter, Cato did not use the term “racist” to describe Kroeker. Kroeker, who has since retired from the LAPD to become head of a police force in Bosnia, strongly disputed the comments in Cato’s letter.

Riordan, who was in the middle of selecting the LAPD’s next chief, defended Kroeker and launched a counterattack on Cato, allegedly calling him a “racist” in front of reporters during at least two public events.

Noelia Rodriguez, the mayor’s spokeswoman, said the mayor was calling Cato’s letters and actions racist.

“He felt that there was no place for racially divisive allegations during the chief’s selection,” she said. Cato’s letter “struck a nerve with the mayor.”

Cato said in court documents that he saw the mayor call him “a racist and . . . other disparaging remarks” on a national newscast last year.

According to Cato’s lawsuit, the mayor’s comments were “designed to” and “resulted in depriving the plaintiff of his good name within his profession.”

Additionally, the suit contends that Cato “has suffered lowered esteem among his subordinates, peers and superiors within his profession.”

Cato has repeatedly said he wrote to city officials to express his view on a man who was in the running for the chief’s job. He said he wrote the letter as an individual and not a member of the Oscar Joel Bryant Assn., which represents black officers.

Kroeker’s supporters accused Cato of being a disgruntled employee whom Kroeker once disciplined.

As a result of the mayor’s comments, Cato said “a lot of negativity and hostility” has been directed at him from command officers to subordinates. The week after the mayor’s comments, Cato said people would call him and then hang up. He said internal affairs investigators have also intercepted a threatening letter directed toward him. Also, he alleged that he is under investigation by the LAPD’s internal affairs for writing the letter to city officials in the first place.

“The mayor doesn’t even know me,” Cato said. “He wouldn’t know me if I were right in front of him serving him dinner.”