XPost: ca.politics, alt.politics.obama, seattle.politics   
   XPost: alt.hollywood   
   From: jtownsle@butler.edu   
      
   Mitchell Grobeson, known for launching a lengthy battle in 1988   
   to force the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) to end   
   discrimination against gay officers, has been identified as the   
   man who barricaded himself with a gun in his apartment at 800   
   West Knoll Drive on Friday.   
      
   Grobeson, 57, a former LAPD sergeant, was arrested after   
   assaulting his longtime boyfriend. An L.A. Sheriff’s Department   
   SWAT team showed up at his apartment around 10 a.m. Friday along   
   with a crisis negotiation team. The situation led to the   
   blocking of West Knoll and the eastbound lanes of Santa Monica   
   Boulevard until about 2 p.m., when the crisis negotiation team   
   talked Grobeson into surrendering. He was booked into jail in   
   protective custody and is being held on $250,000 bail.   
      
   The assault is likely to lead to Grobeson being charged with   
   corporal injury against a spouse, which can be ruled a   
   misdemeanor with a potential sentence of up to one year in   
   county jail, and/or a fine of up to $6,000, or as a felony,   
   punished by as many as four years in California state prison.   
   Earlier reports said Grobeson also had threatened to commit   
   suicide and shoot anyone who approached him.   
      
   Grobeson, said to have been the first openly gay officer in the   
   L.A. Police Department, sued the department in 1988, alleging   
   discrimination against gay and lesbian employees. He resigned   
   after filing the suit, taking a job with the San Francisco State   
   University Police Department and the San Francisco Police   
   Department. In a 1993 settlement of his lawsuit, the LAPD was   
   required to end discrimination against gay and lesbian employees   
   and job applicants.   
      
   Grobeson returned to the LAPD and retired in 1995, claiming a   
   mental disability. However he filed a second lawsuit in 1996,   
   alleging the City of Los Angeles and the LAPD had failed to take   
   the steps required in the 1993 settlement to eliminate   
   discriminatory practices and that he had been discriminated   
   against by the police department. Grobeson sought $636,000 to   
   pay his legal fees and up to $4.4 million in back pay and   
   compensation for emotional distress. In 2007, Los Angeles and   
   Grobeson agreed to settle the suit. The city agreed to   
   strengthen its policies against LGBT discrimination and pay   
   Grobeson’s legal fees. However the two parties were unable to   
   reach agreement on Grobeson’s request for back pay.   
      
   That spurred another trial in December 2007, which Grobeson   
   lost. However a judge ruled that one of the jurors was biased.   
   That prompted another trial, which Grobeson and the LAPD settled   
   in 2013 without disclosing the terms.”   
      
   Grobeson’s fight against the LAPD made him somewhat of a gay   
   icon, with appearances on “60 Minutes” and the Phil Donahue show.   
      
   He also was the recipient of West Hollywood’s Rainbow Key Award   
   in 2008. After his retirement, Grobeson has worked as a private   
   security officer for various celebrities and for LGBT events   
   such as the 20th anniversary of The Wall-Las Memorias, an   
   organization that provides services to Latino people affected by   
   HIV, substance abuse and other issues. Grobeson also is the   
   author of “Outside the Badge,” published in 1999, a novel about   
   a police officer trying to solve the murders of male street   
   prostitutes in Hollywood. Grobeson has chronicled his own career   
   on a website titled SgtMitch.com.   
      
   Grobeson’s arraignment is set for tomorrow at LAX Superior Court.   
      
   http://www.wehoville.com/2016/03/07/former-cop-and-gay-activist-   
   mitchell-grobeson-arrested-in-fridays-west-knoll-incident/   
        
      
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