City to Pay Attorneys’ Fees for Fired Officer

The Los Angeles City Council on Friday agreed to pay more than $288,000 in court-ordered attorneys’ fees in the case of a fired officer whose rights were violated by the Los Angeles Police Department.

The fees were not connected to a $1.5-million award granted to former Sgt. Roger M. Gibson by a federal court jury in 1988, which is being appealed by the city attorney’s office, Deputy City Atty. S. David Hotchkiss said.

Gibson, 50, who is now a carpenter, was fired when a police Board of Rights determined that he had made false statements to investigators in denying that he was present at a Hollywood Hills sex party in 1982. The board also found that he refused to permit investigators looking for a stolen car battery to search his house. The Board of Rights found Gibson not guilty of stealing the battery, and the district attorney’s office never charged him with a crime.