By Karl Fischer, Contra Costa Times
RICHMOND, Calif. -- An officer facing termination from the police department over statements he made during an excessive-force investigation will instead get a $115,000 worker’s compensation settlement and a medical disability retirement.
State records show LaRaunce Robinson, dismissed last spring following a political clash over brutality claims from Cinco de Mayo 2002, agreed last month to the injury settlement and closure of termination proceedings against him.
The Richmond Police Officers Association, which claims the city used Robinson as a scapegoat, counts the Dec. 4 agreement as a victory over what it considered a flawed investigation and improper firing, a union attorney said.
“The discipline was a result of their misperception of what he stated in a police commission interview,” said Alison Berry Wilkinson, who represents Robinson for the union. “The investigation was so abysmally conducted ... it was difficult to discern what actually occurred.”
Robinson was the only officer disciplined in connection with claims of beatings and racially abusive behavior toward Latinos when police closed a long stretch of 23rd Street on May 5, 2002, because of large crowds of Cinco de Mayo revelers.
The claims resulted in public furor and political fallout a year later when several residents filed a federal civil rights suit. It came to light the department’s internal affairs unit did not investigate the allegations because no formal complaint was filed.
Several people did file complaints against six officers with the police commission, a civilian panel that investigates claims of brutality and civil rights violations and advises the police chief of its findings.
“The police commission has fulfilled its role in this matter. The commission made recommendations to the police chief at the time ... and whatever happens from now on is out of our hands,” commission Chair Susan Geick said. “It is in the hands of the federal court.”
The commission’s 11-month investigation validated some complaints against officers it could not identify and against Robinson, city records show, for allegedly striking community activist Andres Soto in the back with a metal flashlight.
Last April 18, two weeks after the commission made its findings, Robinson filed a claim with the state Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board.
Robinson was already on injury leave when former Police Chief Joseph Samuels Jr. sent him a termination notice in early May, after weeks of pressure from the City Council and neighborhood groups to act.
“To me, it’s a complete scam of the workman’s compensation system,” Soto said. “It seems to be part of a pattern that exists within the Richmond Police Department and the city administration to allow criminal cops to avoid justice.”
Samuels did not base the discipline on the police commission’s findings, but rather on statements Robinson made during the commission’s investigation. The union appealed the discipline.
According to state records, Robinson repeatedly injured his right shoulder and right hand while “fighting with suspects” in February and late March, 2003. He was assigned to undercover work at the time inside a drug store as part of an effort to curb shoplifting.
Robinson’s injury claims and the disciplinary appeals process were unrelated, Wilkinson said. But settlement of both matters became entwined on Dec. 4, when the city agreed to drop the termination after a doctor ruled Robinson could not come back to work.
Robinson, 39, is a 16-year department veteran.
Acting City Attorney Wayne Nishioka declined comment on the case.
The city first tried to fire Robinson in 1992 after he allegedly punched a 17-year-old prisoner. But the city personnel board rehired him after finding that the city did not prove the case. Robinson also argued discipline was applied inconsistently because he is black.
In 1994, Robinson received a $34,000 out-of-court settlement from the city in connection with that case.