LAPD Officer in Probe Sues Over T-Ball Ouster

An LAPD sergeant accused of perjury in the Rampart corruption scandal has sued Los Angeles County after he was barred from coaching his 6-year-old son’s T-ball team.

Brian Liddy has asked a judge to order the county to reinstate him as a volunteer coach, saying the decision to dismiss him as a volunteer at the Castaic Regional Sports Complex was “arbitrary” and “capricious.”

Sheila Ortega, spokeswoman as well as volunteer coordinator for the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation, declined comment on the Liddy case but said volunteers can be removed “for any reason that’s disruptive [to] the services” provided by the department.

“We’ve had other instances where people were undesirable,” Ortega said.

But about two dozen parents have signed a petition seeking Liddy’s reinstatement.

“It takes a special person to coach. Brian had the ability,” said Lori Meottel, mother of a 7-year-old boy, Jake, coached by Liddy. “We were all very upset because we didn’t understand what [Rampart] had to do with any of the kids.”

That view was confirmed by a parks and recreation employee, who declined comment on the litigation but said the former coach--as far as he could determine--had enjoyed full support of all the parents.

“The team loved him. We had no problems with him,” said Jeff Dorst, recreation services supervisor at the Castaic complex. “He did a fine job as coach.”

Liddy, who has been relieved of police duty, has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice, filing a false police report and perjury.

In April, in the middle of the T-ball season, Liddy, 38, was informed he was no longer welcome as a volunteer coach because of his arrest in connection with the Rampart scandal, according to court documents.

To become a volunteer, applicants are fingerprinted and submit to a criminal background check. Those convicted of certain sex, narcotics or violent crimes are not eligible, according to the application form.

Liddy, who had been among the nearly 50 approved volunteers in the T-ball program, was not accused of such crimes, said his lawyer, Russell J. Cole.

“He hasn’t been convicted of anything,” Meottel said.

According to Meottel, parks and recreation employees told her they believed Liddy would not be a good role model and also feared being publicly associated with the accused man.

“What if one of the news crews comes down here and follows [Liddy] around, and he’s with parks and rec? That would be really bad press for us,” an employee said, according to Meottel.

In recent weeks Meottel led the petition drive in the hope of bringing Liddy back. The petition states parents were “outraged” at the decision to remove Liddy as coach and hailed him as “a positive role model for our children.” It was signed by parents of all 12 members of Liddy’s T-ball team, the Yankees, as well as parents who knew him from his soccer-coaching days, according to Meottel.

Eventually, other parents filled in with the T-ball team.

“It was very unorganized,” said Meottel, who served as one of the last-minute coaches. “We tried but it wasn’t the same.”

T-ball season ended in June. Although soccer season is now in full swing, Liddy did not reapply to be coach because he knows he would be turned down--and that’s why he’s turning to the courts for help, said Cole, adding that Liddy felt “he had no other recourse.”

The county has 30 days to respond to Liddy’s petition, said Deputy County Counsel Stephen R. Morris, who declined further comment. Liddy declined a request for an interview, citing his pending criminal case.

“It’s not money he’s after,” said Cole, the lawyer who filed the lawsuit July 20 in Los Angeles Superior Court. “He’s doing it because he’s a parent and he’s involved in his children’s lives.”