Some Calif. donors yank reward in Dorner cop-killer case

Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY | USATODAY

Some California donors, including the city of Riverside, have withdrawn their part of more than $1 million in reward money offered for the capture and conviction of cop-killer Christopher Dorner, who committed suicide after a 10-day shooting spree in Southern California last month.

The city of Riverside had pledged $100,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Dorner, who was suspected of killing four people, including Riverside officer Michael Crain.

The former Los Angeles police officer, who said in a manifesto that he was seeking revenge following his dismissal from the force, killed himself Feb. 12 as officers closed in on a cabin near Big Bear Mountain Lake where he was holed up.

Two claims have been made on the reward, one by a couple near the vacation resort whose car was stolen after they were tied up by Dorner, and a man whose pickup was hijacked by the suspect, The Press-Enterprise reported.

A Riverside City Council spokesperson said the criteria for getting the city's $100,000 reward was not met, the newspaper reported, apparently because Dorner was already dead by the time police broke into the burning cabin.

"Thank you for making the phone calls, for your part in bringing Chris Dorner to an end. Unfortunately, it wasn't through the justice system, and that's what our precedence has created, and our process and resolution provided for," said Riverside Mayor Rusty Bailey, according to KABC-TV.

A similar reward by Riverside County, which was among 27 groups pledging reward money, is still pending.

The Press-Enterprise quotes Ron Cottingham, president of the 64,000-member union Peace Officers Research Association of California, which has placed its own pledge on hold, as saying several donor groups are withdrawing their pledges.

The Los Angeles Police Department, however, said it will still pay its portion of the overall $1 million reward, the Los Angeles Times reported.

LAPD Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese said that it "would be disingenuous" to deny someone the reward because the suspect had died before he could be put on trial. That, Albanese said, would also undercut the effectiveness of future reward offers, the newspaper reported.

The Los Angeles reward criteria, however, was slightly different than other cities because Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, in announcing the reward, had broadened it to "capture" in his public remarks, as opposed to the more restrictive capture and conviction.

The city of Irvine, where a former LAPD captain's daughter and her fiancé were killed by Dorner, said on Tuesday it would keep its pledge of $100,000, KNBC reported.