The first openly gay Los Angeles police officer was charged Tuesday with assault with a firearm and criminal threats stemming from a dispute with his husband that led to a standoff with sheriff’s deputies at the couple’s West Hollywood home.
Retired Sgt. Mitchell Grobeson, 57, was arrested Friday after he allegedly holed up inside a West Hollywood home for nearly four hours before surrendering to a sheriff’s SWAT team.
Grobeson pleaded not guilty this afternoon to the two felony charges, which include an allegation that he personally used a handgun. He was ordered to be held in lieu of $100,000 bail while awaiting his next court appearance March 28 at the Airport Branch Courthouse in Los Angeles.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, Grobeson pointed a handgun at his husband last week to force him out of the home. The husband subsequently contacted the sheriff’s department, asking for help to remove some of his belongings from the home in the 800 block of West Knoll Drive, prosecutors said.
When the deputies arrived at the home shortly after 10 a.m. Friday, Grobeson allegedly barricaded himself inside, beginning the standoff.
“Crisis Negotiation Team personnel made contact with the suspect requesting him to come out of the residence,” according to a sheriff’s department statement. “The suspect agreed and surrendered to Special Weapons Team personnel without incident.”
He faces up to 14 years in state prison if convicted as charged, prosecutors said.
Grobeson sued the city of Los Angeles in 1988, alleging discriminatory practices against gay and lesbian employees by the police department. He won reinstatement to the LAPD as part of a settlement to that suit but later claimed that his bosses held the suit against him and filed a second lawsuit.
The entire legal saga took 25 years to play out, and Grobeson finally settled the second lawsuit in 2013.
–City News Service