During the trial, Hill denied making such a threat and alleged that Curtis had fabricated the charges to retaliate against him. Hill was ultimately found not guilty at an internal disciplinary hearing.
"What the LAPD did and continues to do is criminal," Hill said in an interview Monday after the verdict. "There's a code of silence. . . . It's not as widespread, but there's an environment that needs to be corrected."
Hill said he would return to his job at the Northeast Division, where he has been promoted to senior lead officer since he filed the lawsuit in January 2007. He said he was concerned that he might be subject to further retaliation and that officers who testified in his case might also be penalized.
The LAPD in recent years has been accused repeatedly of retaliating against officers who report their superiors for alleged misconduct.
Last October, a jury awarded more than $1 million to detective Ya-May Christle, who said she was demoted three levels after she accused her former boss of promoting other female employees in exchange for sexual favors.
In January 2007, the city paid a $650,000 settlement to Jim Tatreau, a police commander who alleged that he was denied promotion after he clashed repeatedly with former Chief Bernard C. Parks and called for Parks' firing.
The city also paid $225,000 in 2006 to settle a lawsuit by veteran LAPD Officer Reggie Dickenson, who alleged that his supervisors fabricated complaints against him and assigned him far from his home when he raised concerns that his colleagues may have falsified racial data required by a consent decree for traffic stop reports.
In September 2005, the city settled a lawsuit in which Jonathon Goode, a white sergeant, alleged among other things that he was retaliated against for pointing out that a hangman's noose in a captain's office had offended at least one black civilian employee. The city paid $155,000.
Last week, the city prevailed in a case in which a lieutenant, Jim Gavin, alleged that he was retaliated against after uncovering evidence that undermined a decades-old murder investigation conducted by a colleague.
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victoria.kim@latimes.com
