Activist Policeman Granted Disability

Calling self-styled activist Don Jackson “psychologically unfit” to return to his job as a sergeant with the Hawthorne Police Department, city officials announced Wednesday he will be granted a disability retirement.

The decision by City Manager R. Kenneth Jue comes more than two years after Jackson, 31, was placed on temporary disability leave after his allegations of racism against Hawthorne police.

Jackson gained national attention in January when a television camera crew filmed him as he was apparently pushed through a plate glass window by a policeman during a “sting” operation designed to uncover abuse in the Long Beach Police Department.

His retirement will be retroactive to Feb. 3, the date of a psychiatrist’s report that recommended that he be removed from the force, said Doug Gates, Hawthorne’s employee relations officer.

Jackson will receive $2,120 a month, 50% of his sergeant’s pay, from the state Public Employees Retirement System, Gates said. Jackson had received $960 a month in temporary disability pay.

“I’m very relieved,” Jackson said Wednesday. “It’s been a burden economically as well as mentally.”