California politicians are using technicalities to avoid rewarding money that they pledged to members of the public who tipped police to fugitive murderer Christopher Dorner’s whereabouts.
Six weeks after Dorner, the former Los Angeles police officer who killed four people and led police on a statewide manhunt, was found burned to death in Big Bear, politicians in California have decided the reward could only be collected if Dorner had been arrested or convicted.
A lawyer representing “the couple who called police after Dorner tied them up” before fleeing in their car has criticized these organizations and politicians for reneging on their promises. Another man, whose car was hijacked by Dorner, is also seeking the reward.
During the manhunt, Los Angeles county offered a $1.2 million reward leading to the arrest and conviction of Dorner. Since Dorner was never arrested, though, and cannot be convicted in court since he is dead, the city of Riverside has decided not to pay its share of the reward money the city had pledged. So has a police officers union.
According to the Associated Press, the city of Riverside pulled its share of reward and “the board of the 64,000-member union Peace Officers Research Association of California rejected paying its $50,000 share” because Dorner died before he was arrested or convicted.
The Riverside County Board of Supervisors, though, approved a $100,000 contribution to the fund and intends to honor it.
Frank Zimring, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, told the Associated Press that Riverside could probably not pay the reward, but not doing so would hurt the city the next time a fugitive is on the loose.
“The problem is going to come the next time Riverside wants to get the public’s attention by offering a reward, because the issue is really the community’s long-term credibility,” Zimring said.
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