2 Ex-LAPD Cadets Win $2 Million in Age Bias Suit
Two former LAPD cadets have won a jury award totaling $2 million in an age discrimination suit against the department.
The men, now in their 60s, were dismissed after being accused of inappropriately touching female cadets while practicing search techniques at the Los Angeles Police Academy in 1995 and 1996.
The Los Angeles Superior Court jury last Friday awarded Lee Lagorio, 64, $1,565,461, holding that the Police Department discriminated against and harassed Lagorio because of his age.
Dumas Robinson, 68, was awarded $450,000 based on the jury’s finding that he also was subjected to age-based harassment.
Robinson entered the academy in 1995 at the age of 64 and was fired a year later. Lagorio was 60 when he joined the department in 1996, and was terminated in 1997.
Both men accused the department of concocting the charges to keep them out of the police force. “They were trying to do something that would make you so embarrassed you wouldn’t file a lawsuit,” Robinson said.
LAPD spokesman David Kalish said the city plans to appeal.
The department is “obviously disappointed in the outcome. We believe we did the right thing,” he said.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
