Ex-Detective Alleges Anti-White Discrimination - L.A. Weekly
The federal civil rights suit, sent to us by Lyga's attorney, Joseph Y. Avrahamy, seeks $300,000 in damages as well as additional special damages, back pay, front pay and reinstatement as a cop. The 2013 talk to other law enforcers at the police academy ended with a Q&A, and Lyga took shots at old foes, including attorney Carl Douglas, who had deposed Lyga for a lawsuit against the city by the family of fallen Officer Kevin Gaines. On March 18, 1997 Lyga fatally shot Gaines in a road-rage confrontation that drew national headlines. Lyga says both men were out of uniform and had no idea the other was a cop when they started beefing in North Hollywood traffic. The detective opened fire after Gaines threatened him with a gun, he said, and the department later backed Lyga's account. But allegations of racism followed Lyga through his career, he says, especially because the city settled with the Gaines family rather than air the details of the case. In 2013 Lyga reiterated that Douglas had asked him years earlier if he had any regrets about that North Hollywood confrontation. The comment was interpreted by many, particularly African-American cops still stung by Gaines' demise, as a racist remark about killing "a whole truckload" of. Source: www.laweekly.com
