City Settles With Fired Policeman

A former Los Angeles police officer who charged that he was falsely arrested by the department will be paid $225,000 after the City Council voted Tuesday to settle with him.

The officer, Kelly Chrisman, was fired last year after Los Angeles Police Department officials alleged that he used the agency’s computers to look up confidential law enforcement data on scores of celebrities, including Sharon Stone, Kobe Bryant and Sean Penn.

Chrisman has not denied looking up the information, but said he was following orders to devise a map of Westside VIPs.

The former police officer also alleged that city officials, including Councilman Dennis P. Zine and Deputy Police Chief James McMurray, defamed him by suggesting that he was breaking rules by looking up the data.

On Tuesday, the council approved settlement of Chrisman’s lawsuits.

Officials from the city attorney’s office declined to comment, as did Chrisman’s attorney.

Police officials began investigating Chrisman’s use of the department’s computers in 2000, after a former girlfriend reported to police that he had been gathering confidential information for personal reasons.