20 Facts About Frank Lyga

In 1986, Lyga joined the Los Angeles Police Department after serving with a sheriff's department in the Mohawk Valley of New York.

Kevin Gaines was shot and killed on March 18,1997, by Frank Lyga, who was ultimately determined to have been acting in self-defense.

Frank Lyga, assigned to the Narcotics Division Clandestine Lab Squad at the time, along other members of his team was staking out a suspected methamphetamine dealer.

Frank Lyga was the point man, which required him to sit in an unmarked 1991 Buick Regal waiting for a drug deal to happen, so that he could follow the suspects back to their source and make the necessary arrests.

The operation was called off, and Frank Lyga drove onto Ventura Boulevard.

Frank Lyga saw Gaines had a gun and had threatened Lyga again.

Frank Lyga fired two shots at Gaines; the first missed, but the second hit the driver just below his right armpit, puncturing his heart before stopping in his lung.

Frank Lyga pulled into the gas station and identified himself as a police officer and asked a customer coming out of the station's mini-mart to call the 911 emergency number.

When Frank Lyga returned to the station and awaited instructions on the investigation of the shooting he was informed by his commander, Dennis Zuener, that Kevin Gaines was a Los Angeles Police Officer.

Frank Lyga was tested for signs of racial bias for every use-of-force incident by a demographic examination; no signs of racial bias by Lyga were found.

The District Attorney's inquiry eventually ruled that Frank Lyga was not criminally liable.

Three months after the incident, the LAPD unit investigating the shooting found that Frank Lyga had acted according to department policy, and the department's shooting board recommended no disciplinary action.

In November, 1997, Frank Lyga appeared again before the shooting board, which reviewed the evidence and the 3D re-creation, and in December LAPD chief Bernard Parks reported that the shooting was within department policy; no action would be taken against Frank Lyga.

On June 26,2014, Detective Frank Lyga was placed on paid administrative leave after a pending investigation into allegations he made racist comments calling Attorney Carl Douglas an "Ewok from the Star Wars movies".

Frank Lyga was recorded on November 15,2013, after an in-service training class at the Los Angeles Police Academy.

Detective Frank Lyga told the class that he didn't have any regrets shooting Gaines; in fact, he wished there were more of "them" in the car at the time.

Frank Lyga stated that he could have killed a truckload of "them" and not felt anything and would be happy doing it.

Frank Lyga retired prior to being fired by LAPD Chief Charles Beck.

However, the city admitted no wrongdoing and Frank Lyga was not offered his job back as a part of the settlement.

Frank Lyga is played by Shea Whigham in the biography film City of Lies, which features the 1997 road rage incident with LAPD officer Kevin Gaines.