Family Of Officer Shot By Detective Hires Cochran

LOS ANGELES - The family of a policeman shot to death by a detective wants an independent inquiry and has hired O.J. Simpson's former criminal lawyer.

Officer Kevin Gaines' widow retained Johnnie Cochran to deal with the Los Angeles Police Department, family members said.

Detective Frank Lyga, claiming self-defense, shot Gaines, 31, on Tuesday in a confrontation at a traffic light. Police said Gaines was shot after he told Lyga to stop staring at him and pointed a handgun at him.

Lyga was in undercover clothing; Gaines was off-duty. Apparently neither knew the other was an officer.

Some police are angry that Police Chief Willie Williams decided Gaines does not merit a full-dress funeral because he died while off duty. The way Gaines died was also an issue in the decision, said Assistant Chief Frank Piersol.

Williams and police commissioners have said a scheduled Police Commission meeting will prevent their attending his funeral.

Lt. Pat Conmay, overseeing the internal probe, said nothing suggests the shooting was criminal, but the department is expected to submit the case for prosecutors' review.

Gaines, a six-year veteran and father of two, was separated from his wife and living with Sharitha Knight, the estranged wife of imprisoned Death Row Records founder Marion "Suge" Knight.

Both Gaines and Lyga have been subjects of previous misconduct complaints.

Gaines, according to a Los Angeles Times report, was the subject of an internal investigation for his behavior toward police answering a shooting report. He counter-claimed that he was manhandled and improperly handcuffed.

Lyga, 40, a 10-year veteran, was named in two 1991 citizen complaints of undue force and mistreatment of a prisoner, and a 1990 lawsuit by a college student who accused Lyga of breaking his nose was settled for about $40,000, records show.