LOS ANGELES : LAPD Probe Clears Officer of Hitting Ex-Girlfriend

An LAPD sergeant has been exonerated by a department disciplinary panel of charges that he punched his former girlfriend, a 911 emergency operator, and pushed her out of a moving vehicle.

But the LAPD Board of Rights found Sgt. John Ortega guilty of lying to a supervisor investigating the allegations and has recommended to chief Willie L. Williams that he be suspended for 18 days.

The allegations by 911 telephone operator Alicia Robalino are also the subject of an ongoing lawsuit filed last week by the ACLU against Ortega and the LAPD, charging that the sergeant sexually harassed Robalino and that sexual harassment is a pervasive problem in the LAPD.

Deputy Chief Mark Kroeker questioned the credibility of both Ortega and Robalino. Robalino had said that after breaking off her 18-month relationship with Ortega last year, he struck her during a two-hour meeting in his pickup truck.

Ortega pleaded guilty to three other counts of driving an unregistered and unlicensed vehicle and leaving an assigned area to go to Robalino’s residence to conduct personal business while on duty.