LAPD Detective Relieved of Duty over Racist Comments He Made about 1997 Valley Shooting

An embattled Los Angeles police detective who fatally shot a fellow officer during a traffic dispute, and who more recently was accused of making racially charged comments at a training class about shooting black men, was relieved of duty today and assigned to his home.

"I can tell you that Detective Frank Lyga has been assigned to home with pay because of new information that came to the attention of the chief of police," LAPD spokesman Cmdr. Andrew Smith told City News Service.

Lyga had already been taken out of the field and assigned to desk duty because of an internal-affairs investigation, Smith said.

"That occurred about a week ago," Smith said. "And now, he's assigned to his home with pay which is according to procedure."

It was unclear if the action against Lyga today was related to his 1997 fatal shooting of fellow Officer Kevin Gaines or to the recent accusations of racially insensitive remarks that were caught on tape.

"The information may be related to the Gaines shooting or to the taped insults and racial comments Lyga made, but I don't know," Smith said. "That is all part of the ongoing investigation."

It was unclear how long Lyga would be assigned to home duty.

"But obviously, we want to get these kinds of situations resolved as quickly as possible," he said.

LAPD internal affairs investigators opened an inquiry into the 57-year- old Lyga after a fellow officer filed a complaint against him for the comments he allegedly made while teaching a class at the department's training academy, Smith said. The investigation has centered on an audio recording allegedly capturing the comments.

A copy of the recording was released publicly by Jasmyne Cannick, a political consultant and writer. Cannick said the recording was made by a black officer who attended the class Lyga taught last November.

On the recording, a man gives a rambling, expletive-laden talk that revolves mostly around Lyga's 1997 fatal shooting of Gaines, an off-duty LAPD officer. According to police accounts of the shooting, Lyga was working an undercover narcotics operation on Ventura Boulevard near Lankershim when he became involved in a traffic dispute with Gaines.

Apparently, neither man knew the other was a police officer. The shooting sparked racial tensions within the department because Gaines was black and Lyga is white.

In recounting the LAPD's investigation into the shooting and the lawsuit Gaines' family filed, the man on the recording complains he was unfairly labeled as "a racist killer." He also recalled a confrontation he had with attorney Carl Douglas, who helped represent Gaines' family in their lawsuit.

Douglas, the man said, asked him if he believed all "young black men" were gang members and if he regretted shooting Gaines, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"I said, 'No. I regret he was alone in the truck at the time,"' the man said he replied. "I could have killed a whole truckload of them and I would have been happy doing so."

NBC4 reported that in a brief interview with Lyga, the detective acknowledged making the comments and expressed regret but claimed his words had been taken out of context.

Smith also said he did not know the current status of the Internal Affairs investigation involving Lyga or whether any case stemming from this investigation had been referred to the L.A. County District Attorney's Office.

--City News Service