Daryl Gates

* The action of U.S. District Chief Judge John Davies in dismissing former Chief Daryl Gates as a defendant in the Rodney King lawsuit (May 10) is an affirmation of a keystone ethical principle: An individual is responsible for his own actions. This responsibility is not relieved by poor leadership or circumstances, no matter political correctness of the left or right. Our democracy lives or dies on this principle.

Gates’ expressed feeling of vindication is the instinctive reaction of a failed bureaucrat and leader. His failure to inspire the Los Angeles Police Department to the highest ideals in a vital but difficult role in society--while not alleviating the individual police officers’ responsibility for their own actions--didn’t help. Gates is no longer chief for a good reason; until he understands that, he cannot contribute to the healing of the world.

STEVEN MARCUS

Costa Mesa

* Judge Davies feels that Gates should get off the hook unless King’s attorneys can show that Gates himself got on the LAPD radio and told his men, “I directly order you to beat the stuffings out of that so-and-so after you catch him because he is such a rotten fellow.” What a contrast with that famous sign on Harry Truman’s desk, “The Buck Stops Here.”

HORACE GAIMS

Los Angeles