$886,000 is all that will be paid out of $1-million Dorner reward
Only about 89% of the $1-million reward offered during the search for former Los Angeles Police Officer Christopher Dorner has been distributed — and nothing more will be given, a Los Angeles city official said Wednesday.
Vicki Curry, spokeswoman for Mayor Eric Garcetti, said $886,000 was paid out in the spring and summer of 2013 to the four people who qualified for the reward money in the wake of the multi-day search. But the remaining money won’t be distributed because some donors felt that the criteria for offering it — the conviction of Dorner — had not been satisfied, Curry said.
Dorner, 33, was accused of killing four people, including two law enforcement officers, and wounding several others. He died during a standoff with police from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
During the search, more than two dozen donors offered money in the effort to find the disgruntled former officer. Then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa set the reward at $1 million because the financial pledges went well above that amount, Curry said. But some contributors — including the city of Riverside and the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents rank-and-file LAPD officers — later pulled out, saying that Dorner’s death meant the reward terms had not been met.
“Mayor Garcetti made some efforts to get some of those dropped-out donors to recommit, but none of them have chosen to do so,” Curry said.
Los Angeles went ahead with its $100,000 share of the payments, Curry said. Tyler Izen, president of the Police Protective League, said his union had only offered the money based on “very specific information and criteria.”
“The pledge of money was for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Christopher Dorner and the league does not believe the criteria was met,” he said.
Garcetti’s payout figure was reported this week by the Riverside Press-Enterprise. Four-fifths of the reward was allocated to Jim and Karen Reynolds, who provided information that led directly to the “pursuit and capture” of Dorner, according to a report released by police officials. The couple were bound and gagged by Dorner but broke free and contacted authorities.
Snow Summit employee Daniel M. McGowan, who alerted authorities after spotting Dorner’s burning truck, was assigned 15% of the reward. Tow truck driver R. Lee McDaniel, who was allocated 5%, died last month.
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