Kevin Gaines (police Officer) - Skepticism

Skepticism

In March 2003, former LAPD officer Brian S. Bentley wrote an article for StreetGangs.com Magazine in which he claimed Detective Poole and the LAPD deliberately covered up the true circumstances of Kevin Gaines's death. Bentley alleges that Detective Lyga had a history of being over-aggressive with African American suspects, and hailed from the same West Los Angeles police station that produced Mark Fuhrman, a station that Bentley believes to be racist. Bentley claims that Lyga was overheard bragging in the lobby of this police station that Internal Affairs had told him they would do everything possible to defame Officer Gaines to clear Lyga of wrongdoing.

Bentley further notes that Lyga claims Gaines pointed a gun at him with his right hand at his face, when in fact Gaines was left-handed. Bentley asserts that Poole actively worked to suppress investigation into the shooting, filing a personnel complaint against an African-American officer who began second-guessing Poole's investigation. Bentley, an African American, published a "tell-all" book entitled Honor Without Integrity in 2004, which details how he engaged in much of the same behavior both on and off-duty as the convicted Rampart Cops, during his own tenure with the LAPD.