LAPD Reopens Probe After Witnesses Say Police Lied

The Los Angeles Police Department on Thursday reopened an internal investigation into a 1998 drug case in which two Metro Division officers are alleged to have lied about the circumstances surrounding the arrest of a homeless man.

Officers Chris Soldo and Patrick McCarty were earlier cleared by the LAPD of wrongdoing in the arrest of Larry Betts, despite statements from four eyewitnesses who said that the officers lied about the location and other details of Betts’ arrest.

The criminal drug charge against Betts was dismissed by prosecutors after investigators from the district attorney’s office and the public defender’s office located the witnesses, who directly contradicted the police account. After the dismissal, the public defender requested that the LAPD investigate the conduct of Soldo and McCarty.

After an eight-month investigation, the LAPD closed the case without interviewing several of the key witnesses. The allegations against the partners were deemed unfounded, according to a Sept. 3, 1999, letter by Capt. Rodger K. Coombs, who oversees the Metro Division.

Cmdr. David J. Kalish said the LAPD has reopened the case as a result of new details disclosed in a Times article Thursday. The article contained new information from additional witnesses who disputed the officers’ account. Another witness, who previously gave a statement to the LAPD investigator, told The Times that the investigator had misrepresented what he said.

“Our intent is to get to the truth of the matter,” Kalish said. He said it is standard procedure to reopen an investigation if it appears there is additional information or new witnesses to interview.

The first investigation into Soldo and McCarty was handled by a sergeant within the Metro Division. Kalish said investigators from the Internal Affairs Division will take over the investigation. The LAPD’s civilian watchdog, Inspector General Jeffrey C. Eglash, is continuing a review of the complaint.

According to police, Betts was stopped for jaywalking on July 13, 1998, about 9:40 p.m. in the 1700 block of South La Cienega Boulevard.

McCarty documented the arrest in a police report and later testified about it under oath at a preliminary hearing in Superior Court.

In the police report, McCarty wrote that, under questioning, Betts volunteered that he was on parole and that there may have been an outstanding warrant for his arrest. McCarty confirmed the warrant and placed Betts under arrest, according to his report. During a pre-booking search, Soldo found a crack pipe laced with cocaine residue in Betts’ left sock and three pieces of crack cocaine in his right front pocket, McCarty’s report states.

Betts was charged with parole violation and drug possession and was booked into jail.

Betts, however, said he had been arrested nine miles away from the location officers specified. He said he was picked up in the 200 block of Boyd Street, off skid row in downtown Los Angeles. In a recent interview with The Times, Betts conceded that he was smoking crack cocaine just minutes before he was arrested, but said he was not in possession of any drugs when he was taken into custody. He said that one of the officers found the crack pipe in a box near where he was lying on the sidewalk and planted the pipe and the rocks of cocaine on him.

Deputy Public Defender Ellie Schneir, who represented Betts on the drug charge and filed the misconduct complaint against the officers on Betts’ behalf, expressed mixed feelings about Thursday’s development.

“I think it’s terrific that they’re reopening this, but I still have a question as to whether they can be trusted,” Schneir said. “I don’t think the LAPD has any real interest in uncovering police misconduct or disciplining police officers. I think all they’re going to do is make it look nicer. I don’t think they’re going to reach any different conclusions.”