BRIEFLY.

Fired LAPD cop seeks $10 million

An ex-LAPD officer who was caught on tape repeatedly striking a car-theft suspect with a flashlight sued the city and Chief William Bratton on Friday for $10 million, saying his firing violated his rights.

John Hatfield's federal lawsuit accuses Bratton of rigging a July 2005 hearing by the department's Board of Rights -- a hearing that resulted in a finding that Hatfield used unnecessary force when he struck Stanley Miller 11 times with the foot-long flashlight.

The Board of Rights recommended his firing, and Bratton terminated Hatfield last August.

A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department had no immediate comment on the allegations, and a spokesman for the City Attorney's Office could not be reached.

The beating was recorded by a helicopter camera crew and later televised throughout the world.

-- City News Service

$50,000 reward offered in slaying

RESEDA -- A $50,000 reward was being offered Friday for information leading to the death of a 38-year-old football and basketball coach who was gunned down in April.

Police say Gary Gault Williams died of several bullet wounds in front of his Reseda apartment.

The motive for the killing is unknown, police have said.

Anyone with information is asked to call West Valley Detective Brad Roberts at [phone].

-- Daily News

Corona landfill to take L.A. trash

The city Board of Public Works approved a five-year contract Friday with a landfill operator that has agreed to take some of Los Angeles' trash.

Waste Management, operator of the El Sobrante Landfill in Corona, agreed to take 600 tons of the city's daily trash for $4.3 million annually beginning Dec. 30, according to a Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation report.

About 3,000 tons of the city's trash will continue to be dumped daily at Sunshine Canyon Landfill above Granada Hills.

The City Council unanimously agreed in March to divert 600 tons from Sunshine Canyon, dumping 300 tons at El Sobrante in Riverside County and sending another 300 tons to Avenal Landfill in Kings County. But city officials could not strike a deal with MDSI, the operator of the Avenal Landfill, so all 600 tons will now be sent to El Sobrante facility.

-- City News Service

Prison sentence for porn trader

A 53-year-old Burbank man was sentenced to more than six years in federal prison for trading child pornography over the Internet, prosecutors said Friday.

David Levi Lovato pleaded guilty in September to possessing and distributing child pornography, which he made available on a file server accessible online. He was sentenced Thursday.

Lovato came to the attention of authorities when police in upstate New York ran across offers for ``hardcore'' and ``preteen'' images in an Internet chat room and downloaded several pictures Lovato had made available, prosecutors said.

When investigators searched the Sylmar home where Lovato lived in 2003, they discovered more than 7,000 images and videos of child pornography.

After he finishes serving his sentence, he must register as a sex offender.

-- City News Service

Victim identified as Glendale man

GLENDALE -- A man whose body was found by a construction crew working on a home in the Glendale foothills last week was identified Friday as a 66-year-old man with Alzheimer's disease who went missing July 19.

Vigen Mkrtchyan, who also suffered from high blood pressure and diabetes, left his residence to go on a hike about 3 p.m. that day and never returned, officials said.

-- City News Service

Bratton for `czar' over gang fight

In response to a report released Wednesday that found that public and private groups have spent $82 million to fight gangs in the city, LAPD Chief William Bratton said he supports the creation of a ``gang czar'' to oversee how the money is spent.

The report found the programs have had only limited success because of disorganized funding.

``We are spending a lot of money in a very disorganized way,'' Bratton said. ``There is no central coordinator for gangs. The city is not getting the most bang for the buck.''

The decision on whether to create such a position will be made after completion of a three-phase study currently under way by The Advancement Project, a nonprofit consulting group hired by the city to review gang issues in the city.

-- Daily News