Officer Faces Misconduct Investigation

A Los Angeles police officer who figures prominently in the upcoming civil rights trial stemming from last year’s North Hollywood bank shootout has been placed on inactive duty for allegedly deserting his post and lying about the incident, sources said Thursday.

Officer John Futrell is assigned to his home pending an internal investigation, said LAPD Cmdr. Dave Kalish, spokesman for Chief Bernard C. Parks. Kalish declined to discuss the case further, citing privacy issues.

But police sources familiar with the case said Futrell was being investigated for alleged insubordination and lying to cover it up.

Futrell’s lawyer, Bradley Gage, said Futrell has been assigned to his home with pay since Aug. 7 because he allegedly left his post without permission and department officials did not believe his explanation.

Gage said the allegations “are unfair, unfounded and untrue.” He said Futrell, a senior lead officer at the West Valley station, had verbal permission from a sergeant to leave.

“There’s been nothing proven at all. It’s an allegation concerning one day, after the officer has had over 26 years of loyal service to the city of Los Angeles,” Gage said.

If true, the allegations could prove troublesome for Futrell during testimony in the federal lawsuit filed on behalf of the children of slain bank robber Emil Matasareanu.

Futrell was responsible for guarding the wounded bank robber during the aftermath of the nationally televised Feb. 28, 1997, shootout for which 17 officers won the department’s Medal of Valor.

In a lawsuit, attorney Stephen Yagman said Futrell and other officers “coldbloodedly murdered” Matasareanu by denying him medical treatment.

Yagman said any challenge to the officer’s credibility could bolster his case against the Police Department.

“The key issue in the case is the honesty of . . . the officers,” Yagman said Thursday. “If the honesty of any one of those officers can be successfully attacked, that makes the defense’s case much worse and the plaintiff’s case much better.”

Defense attorney Gage said: “It would be very sad indeed if such a collateral issue would have any impact on an officer’s stellar performance with the Police Department.”

Gage, a private attorney in Woodland Hills, said Futrell hired him last month in connection with the North Hollywood shootout case after losing confidence in his defenders in the city attorney’s office.

“He was concerned about [their] performance,” Gage said. “He felt that I could represent his interests better.”

The trial date has been postponed pending the results of an operation Yagman is expected to undergo next week.

A Times investigation published in April found that Matasareanu slowly and unnecessarily bled to death because some of the officers involved made a series of mistakes and some firefighters violated their department’s guidelines.

The report, based in part on a review of Police and Fire department communications tapes, also detailed Futrell’s actions in the final minutes of Matasareanu’s life.

According to tapes, Futrell stood over the dying robber for 20 minutes, never checking to see why help had not arrived.

When the officer did make an inquiry, the tapes show, Futrell did not tell the dispatcher that Matasareanu’s condition was urgent. Instead, he told the dispatcher to send an ambulance “when there’s one available.”