Huge Search for Ex-Officer in 3 California Killings

[Ed Anger]

After watching that press conference with the SB county rep...journalists asking stupid questions should be thrown into burning cabins.

I'm surprised the Limey wasn't more of an idiot. They tend to be stupider.

[CountDeMoney]

Sounds like Dorner went out the James Doakes way.

http://youtu.be/NdA2NEWd67c

[Neil]

After watching that press conference with the SB county rep...journalists asking stupid questions should be thrown into burning cabins.

No shit.  I had to change the channel when they started going on about how the criminal might steal a cop car and escape.  Journalists are just as bad as lawyers.  Sure, they lack the base cunning of a lawyer, but they're far, far more stupid.

[fhdz]

Hopefully he died on fire rather than quickly from a shot to the head.

[LaCroix]

Something like a cult following.  Pretty bizarre.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/08/christopher-dorner-fans-facebook-twitter_n_2647754.html

while i'm sure there are those who actually believe this is a tale of some sort of valiant figure enacting justice against a corrupt system, i've a bit of a sick affection for the guy. here's some pissed off ex-cop who who thinks he's on a mission, and clearly in the wrong, murdering innocents and costing the state millions, but the whole story seems like a rejected rambo script. i've jokingly referred to him as a hero of the people to friends. now the LAPD is saying no body has been found in the cabin they burned, and the story just gets more fascinating - maybe he died there but they haven't yet found the corpse, or maybe he escaped, who knows! i think many on the internet are interested in a similar sense, rooting for the bad guy while knowing he's clearly in the wrong.

i mean, just look at this. how awesome
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/6169/dorner.jpg

[Syt]

The LA Times had a bit about the story leading up to the chase, including Dorner's conduct during training and while on the force:

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/feb/07/local/la-me-dorner-profile-20130207

Police say ex-cop was bent on exacting revenge

On the day Christopher Dorner was fired from the Los Angeles Police Department, officials took the unusual step of summoning armed guards to stand watch at his disciplinary hearing downtown.

Those present were nervous that Dorner might do something rash when he learned that he was being stripped of his badge. He was a hulking, muscled man and his body language left no doubt about the anger seething out of him.


"It was clear... that he was wound way too tight," said a police official who attended Dorner's termination hearing and requested anonymity because of safety concerns.

PHOTOS: A tense manhunt amid tragic deaths

That day four years ago, authorities now allege, was the start of a free fall into despair and deadly violence for Dorner. Police say the 33-year-old ex-cop killed three people and injured others on a campaign to exact revenge against those he blamed for his downfall.

Friends and acquaintances who knew Dorner before he became a police officer struggled to reconcile the person they remembered with the image of the deeply disturbed man that emerged Thursday from a rambling manifesto that authorities said was published on what they believe is Dorner's Facebook page. The manifesto portrays Dorner as having no choice but to kill in order to reclaim his destroyed reputation.

"I am a man who has lost complete faith in the system, when the system betrayed, slandered and libeled me," the manifesto states.

PHOTOS: A fugitive's life on Facebook

Born in New York state, Dorner grew up in Southern California with his mother and at least one sister, according to public records and claims in the manifesto.

Dorner felt isolated growing up as one of the few African American children in the neighborhoods where he lived and was the victim of racism, according to the manifesto. "My first recollection of racism was in the first grade," Dorner allegedly wrote, recalling a fellow student at Norwalk Christian School who called him a racial slur. Dorner said he responded "fast and hard," punching and kicking the student.

It was an early, telling illustration of a notion Dorner returned to repeatedly throughout his life — that he was a victim, often wronged by others, records show.

As a teenager in La Palma, Dorner joined the Police Department's youth program, and decided to pursue a career in law enforcement.

Dorner went on to enroll at Southern Utah University, where he joined the school's football team and was befriended by a teammate, Jamie Usera.

Usera, who grew up in Alaska, said he and Dorner bonded over the feelings of culture shock that came with being outsiders on the predominantly white, Mormon campus.

Usera said he introduced Dorner to hunting and other outdoor sports. "He was a typical guy," he said. "I liked him an awful lot. Nothing about him struck me as violent or irrational in any way. He was opinionated, but always seemed level-headed."

Dorner often brought up race issues and the two had heated, but respectful arguments about the extent of racism in the country, Usera said. "Of all the people I hung out with in college, he is the last guy I would have expected to be in this kind of situation."

Neil Gardner, an assistant athletic director, knew Dorner through football and echoed Usera, saying Dorner was "never a disgruntled guy."

Dorner graduated in 2001 with a degree in political science and, soon after, enlisted in the Navy. Over the next several years, military records indicate Dorner received extensive combat and counter-terrorism training and earned commendations for his marksmanship with rifles and pistols.

In 2005, while still enlisted in the military, Dorner applied to the LAPD and earned a spot in one of the department's training academy classes. An officer in Dorner's class who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to discuss the case, recalled Dorner as "one of our problem children" who frequently pushed the bounds of authority .

A few days into training, the recruits were explicitly told to only wear white or black shoes for a conditioning run, the officer said. Dorner, however, showed up in bright neon sneakers. "He thought he knew it all, that rules just kind of didn't apply to him," the officer said. "He was not a team player."

According to the officer, Dorner was kicked out of his academy class at least one time, when he accidentally shot himself in the hand. Internal disciplinary records show that Dorner was suspended for two days for an accidental discharge in 2005. He finished his training with another academy class, the officer said, and joined the force as an officer in February 2006, police records show.

Months later, the Navy called him back into service and he departed for a 13-month deployment in Bahrain. When Dorner returned to the LAPD in July 2007, he had not yet completed his mandatory probation year and was partnered with Teresa Evans, a training officer in the San Pedro area.

Evans would later tell internal affairs investigators that Dorner confessed to her on the first day they worked together that he was unhappy with the way the LAPD handled a complaint he made against some of his classmates in the academy, according to police records. He believed the LAPD was a racist organization and told Evans he planned to sue the department at the end of his probation period, Evans reported.

Dorner repeatedly made mistakes in the field, Evans said. Shortly after becoming partners, they responded to a report of an armed man and Dorner stood in the middle of the street to confront the suspect without any cover, she said. Evans said she told Dorner that she was going to recommend that he be removed from the field unless he improved his performance, according to the internal affairs records.

Dorner, she said, repeatedly asked to return to the academy for more training after his return from military service and was upset that the department had not granted the request. On one occasion, Dorner cried in the patrol car with Evans and demanded the additional training, she said.

The struggling officer's ultimate undoing began on the morning of July 28, when he and Evans were dispatched to a report of a man who had refused to leave a local hotel.

The officers found the mentally ill man seated on a bench. When he refused a command to stand up, Dorner took the man's wrist and pulled him up, records show. A struggle ensued and Evans had to grab Dorner's Taser stun gun from his belt to subdue the man.

Nearly two weeks later, Evans criticized Dorner harshly in an evaluation report that included a long list of areas in which he needed improvement, including using common sense and good judgment. About the same time, Dorner called an LAPD sergeant whom he knew from the Navy and claimed he had witnessed Evans kick the man while he was being handcuffed. The sergeant told Dorner to report the incident to higher-ups or said he would do so himself. Dorner reported the misconduct, records show.

The department's internal affairs unit launched a probe into Dorner's allegations. Three hotel employees who witnessed much of the incident said they never saw Evans kick the man. And when the man arrived at the police station, he did not mention being kicked in the face when a physician treated him for his facial injuries. Investigators concluded there was no truth to Dorner's claim.

The witnesses' statements and Dorner's delay in coming forward "irreparably destroy Dorner's credibility," the department concluded in disciplinary records. Dorner was charged with making false statements and a false personnel complaint.

At Dorner's discipline hearing, the father of the man the partners arrested testified that his son had told him he had been kicked by an officer. Nonetheless the discipline board, found that Dorner had lied about the incident and fired him.

Dorner spent the next couple of years unsuccessfully appealing his termination. Then, this week, police say, Dorner made good on his threat to seek revenge when he fatally shot the daughter of an ex-LAPD captain who represented him at his discipline hearing. He also allegedly shot her fiance. Dorner went on to fatally shoot one officer and injure two others, police say.

"When the truth comes out," the manifesto states, "the killing stops."

[CountDeMoney]

The LAPD's first mistake was letting him back into the academy after he was booted out the first time.  Accidental discharges were an absolute no-no.

[Syt]

Actually, when I read this article, I thought if all those claims are true then the LAPD is a very forgiving employer, but at the same time pretty sucky at weeding out the bad apples (hooray for mixed metaphors!). Of course that may simply be a function of having too few qualified applicants for vacant positions.

[CountDeMoney]

A few days into training, the recruits were explicitly told to only wear white or black shoes for a conditioning run, the officer said. Dorner, however, showed up in bright neon sneakers. "He thought he knew it all, that rules just kind of didn't apply to him," the officer said. "He was not a team player."

If he had done that to our academy instructors, one of them would've taken him out of the class and he would've been PT'd all day until he quit.   
MY MOMMA WANTS TO FLY JETS MAYO-NAISE

[CountDeMoney]

Actually, when I read this article, I thought if all those claims are true then the LAPD is a very forgiving employer, but at the same time pretty sucky at weeding out the bad apples (hooray for mixed metaphors!). Of course that may simply be a function of having too few qualified applicants for vacant positions.

He most likely wouldn't have gotten the extra chances he did if he were white.  And yeah, I just went there, because the LAPD goes there.  We certainly did. 

An agency the size of the LAPD gets plenty of qualified applicants for vacant positions, but police departments are so hard up for qualified minorities with clean backgrounds they will do what they can to keep them, and recycling one through a 2nd training academy is a lot easier and cheaper than having to matriculate another candidate through the background process.

When I did my bit in recruiting and selection we were always, always hammered with 18%; absolutely had have 18% minorities in each academy class, female or not.  25% made the Chief spooge.   Saw plenty of fine candidates miss that last open spot in an academy class to squeeze in a Dorner at the last second to hit that 18%.

[garbon]

Something like a cult following.  Pretty bizarre.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/08/christopher-dorner-fans-facebook-twitter_n_2647754.html

while i'm sure there are those who actually believe this is a tale of some sort of valiant figure enacting justice against a corrupt system, i've a bit of a sick affection for the guy. here's some pissed off ex-cop who who thinks he's on a mission, and clearly in the wrong, murdering innocents and costing the state millions, but the whole story seems like a rejected rambo script. i've jokingly referred to him as a hero of the people to friends. now the LAPD is saying no body has been found in the cabin they burned, and the story just gets more fascinating - maybe he died there but they haven't yet found the corpse, or maybe he escaped, who knows! i think many on the internet are interested in a similar sense, rooting for the bad guy while knowing he's clearly in the wrong.

i mean, just look at this. how awesome
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/6169/dorner.jpg

So you all are just jackasses?

[fhdz]

while i'm sure there are those who actually believe this is a tale of some sort of valiant figure enacting justice against a corrupt system, i've a bit of a sick affection for the guy.

Sick is absolutely the correct word for it.

[derspiess]

The LAPD's first mistake was letting him back into the academy after he was booted out the first time.  Accidental discharges were an absolute no-no.

Wonder what happened to this dude: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeGD7r6s-zU

[CountDeMoney]

Wonder what happened to this dude:

Speaking of accidental discharges, just this morning:

City police training shooting leaves mayor angry, 'speechless'
Commissioner suspends police academy chain of command

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said Wednesday there was "no acceptable explanation" for the shooting that critically wounded a University of Maryland campus police officer during a city police training exercise.

With state police conducting a criminal investigation, city police brass have launched a broad review after the unidentified officer was shot in the head Tuesday with a live round while training at a closed state psychiatric hospital in Owings Mills.

Among the subjects of the inquiry, according to a police spokesman, is that top command including the director of the training academy say they were unaware that the hospital site was being used for training. "There was a communication breakdown in the chain of command that is being investigated," said spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.

There was also a lack of ranking supervisors on site, Guglielmi said.

He confirmed that Efren Edwards, a 25-year veteran and a training academy instructor detailed part-time to Police Commissioner Anthony Batts' executive protection unit, was among the officers present, though he was not the officer who fired the shots.

The wounded officer remained in critical condition Wednesday but was responsive, Guglielmi said.

Rawlings-Blake, who met with members of the wounded officer's family at Maryland Shock Trauma Center, said she had confidence that police would "get to the bottom of it."

"I was so angry I was almost speechless to think that something like this could happen," Rawlings-Blake said Wednesday, speaking after the Board of Estimates meeting. "I made a commitment to the trainee's family that we would get to the bottom of it."

Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts immediately moved to suspend all police academy operations and training programs pending a safety review.

In an e-mail to staff, Batts said six members of the training academy chain of command, including training academy director Maj. Eric Russell, had been suspended pending further investigation. He also said that counseling is being provided to everyone involved.

"Our Professional Standards & Accountability Bureau is conducting an over-arching assessment of the incident. They have two goals: determine why this happened, and how we can prevent this type of tragic incident from ever happening again," Batts wrote in the e-mail. "We must do everything we can to learn from this horrible event and be as transparent and forthcoming as possible — we owe those involved in this tragedy nothing less."

He said the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Commission would also conduct a review.

State police are leading the criminal probe, because the shooting occurred at the former Rosewood Center, a state facility that has been used by other agencies for police training.

Few details of what happened have been made available, and it was unclear how live rounds found their way into a training environment.

The officer, who was not identified at the request of his family, is in his 40s and was hired by the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus in July 2012. Officers from smaller agencies commonly take part in training with larger police forces to conserve resources.

Retired Lt. Col. Michael Andrew, who oversaw the city's SWAT teams, said live ammunition is rarely used in any training scenario. Most guns used in training are distinguished by red handles and have no magazines or firing pins. In classroom settings, he said, "They won't even let you in the building with a loaded weapon."

Andrew said his SWAT teams trained weekly in a former city maintenance shop.

"They weren't using live ammunition," he said. "They would painstakingly make sure everything was unloaded and simulate live ammunition."

Police would not offer any details about Tuesday's training exercise, saying that information was part of their investigation. In recent years, police have described using "active shooter" training exercises in which officers use so-called "simunition" bullets similar to paintballs.

Simunitions are fired from a standard handgun and explode on impact. They allow officers to practice in realistic situations, often in abandoned buildings.

The former Rosewood Center dates to 1888 and once housed as many as 3,000 patients with developmental disabilities. Its population dwindled to 166 residents by 2010, when Gov. Martin O'Malley ordered its closure. Most of the remaining residents were relocated to group homes.

Yeah, I guarantee that these guys were at the facility to practice practical scenarios;  busting down the doors, tossing flashbangs, etc.  I think it's awesome that Batts suspended the entire academy command staff, but they're rarely involved in planning these things, since the academy instructors are the ones in charge of maintaining certification, and they probably just scheduled this for yearly cert amongst themselves.  Been using abandoned buildings, warehouses, office complexes, etc., for years.  It's stupid and Rosewood is a frigging condemned dump, but where else are they going to do it.
But man, how the hell live ammo was doing there is beyond me.  Somebody done fucked up.

[garbon]

Now that I left that company, I probably won't go to Owings Mills ever again.