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Rampart scandal
The Rampart scandal was a police corruption scandal that unfolded in Los Angeles, California during the late 1990s and early 2000s. The scandal concerned widespread criminal activity within the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) anti-gang unit of the Los Angeles Police Department's Rampart Division. More than 70 police officers were initially implicated in various forms of misconduct, including police brutality, planting of false evidence, theft, drug dealing, bank robbery, perjury and cover-ups thereof.
Of the 70 officers implicated, enough evidence was uncovered to bring 58 before an internal administrative board and 24 were found to have committed wrongdoing with twelve given suspensions of various lengths, seven forced into resignation or retirement and five terminated. As a result of the falsified evidence and perjury by Rampart CRASH officers, 106 criminal convictions were overturned.
The scandal resulted in more than 140 civil lawsuits against the City of Los Angeles, costing the city an estimated $125 million in settlements. Partly as a result of the scandal, Mayor James Hahn did not rehire Police Chief Bernard C. Parks in 2002. Both the scandal and the de facto firing of Parks are believed to have precipitated Hahn's defeat by Antonio Villaraigosa in the 2005 mayoral election.
Around 4 p.m. on March 18, 1997, LAPD undercover officer Frank Lyga shot and killed a plainclothes Rampart CRASH officer, Kevin Gaines, in self-defense, following a case of road rage.
According to Lyga and other witnesses, Gaines pulled his green Mitsubishi Montero up to Lyga's Buick and flashed gang signs.
After, Gaines followed Lyga and brandished a .45 ACP handgun. Lyga took out his gun and called for backup using a hidden radio activated by a foot pedal, saying, "Hey, I got a problem. I've got a black guy in a green Jeep coming up here! He's got a gun!" Pulling up at a stop light, Lyga later testified that he heard Gaines shout, "I'll cap you." Lyga fired his 9×19mm Beretta 92 duty pistol into Gaines' SUV twice, one of the bullets lodging in his heart. Lyga radioed one final transmission: "I just shot this guy! I need help! Get up here!" Lyga reported that Gaines was the first to pull a gun and that he responded in self-defense.
In an interview on PBS' Frontline, he said, "In my training experience this guy had 'I'm a gang member' written all over him." Inside of Gaines's car, a Death Row Greatest Hits CD was found, as he was listening to Death Row's inclusion of No Vaseline at the time of the confrontation.
In the ensuing investigation, the LAPD discovered that Gaines had apparently been involved in similar road rage incidents, threatening drivers by brandishing his gun. The investigation also revealed that Gaines was associated with both the Death Row Records record label and its controversial owner and CEO, Suge Knight.
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Rampart scandal
The Rampart scandal was a police corruption scandal that unfolded in Los Angeles, California during the late 1990s and early 2000s. The scandal concerned widespread criminal activity within the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) anti-gang unit of the Los Angeles Police Department's Rampart Division. More than 70 police officers were initially implicated in various forms of misconduct, including police brutality, planting of false evidence, theft, drug dealing, bank robbery, perjury and cover-ups thereof.
Of the 70 officers implicated, enough evidence was uncovered to bring 58 before an internal administrative board and 24 were found to have committed wrongdoing with twelve given suspensions of various lengths, seven forced into resignation or retirement and five terminated. As a result of the falsified evidence and perjury by Rampart CRASH officers, 106 criminal convictions were overturned.
The scandal resulted in more than 140 civil lawsuits against the City of Los Angeles, costing the city an estimated $125 million in settlements. Partly as a result of the scandal, Mayor James Hahn did not rehire Police Chief Bernard C. Parks in 2002. Both the scandal and the de facto firing of Parks are believed to have precipitated Hahn's defeat by Antonio Villaraigosa in the 2005 mayoral election.
Around 4 p.m. on March 18, 1997, LAPD undercover officer Frank Lyga shot and killed a plainclothes Rampart CRASH officer, Kevin Gaines, in self-defense, following a case of road rage.
According to Lyga and other witnesses, Gaines pulled his green Mitsubishi Montero up to Lyga's Buick and flashed gang signs.
After, Gaines followed Lyga and brandished a .45 ACP handgun. Lyga took out his gun and called for backup using a hidden radio activated by a foot pedal, saying, "Hey, I got a problem. I've got a black guy in a green Jeep coming up here! He's got a gun!" Pulling up at a stop light, Lyga later testified that he heard Gaines shout, "I'll cap you." Lyga fired his 9×19mm Beretta 92 duty pistol into Gaines' SUV twice, one of the bullets lodging in his heart. Lyga radioed one final transmission: "I just shot this guy! I need help! Get up here!" Lyga reported that Gaines was the first to pull a gun and that he responded in self-defense.
In an interview on PBS' Frontline, he said, "In my training experience this guy had 'I'm a gang member' written all over him." Inside of Gaines's car, a Death Row Greatest Hits CD was found, as he was listening to Death Row's inclusion of No Vaseline at the time of the confrontation.
In the ensuing investigation, the LAPD discovered that Gaines had apparently been involved in similar road rage incidents, threatening drivers by brandishing his gun. The investigation also revealed that Gaines was associated with both the Death Row Records record label and its controversial owner and CEO, Suge Knight.
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