Frank Lyga

Frank Lyga (born ) is an American former police officer of the Los Angeles Police Department, who shot and killed Kevin Gaines. The resulting LAPD investigation of Kevin Gaines helped lead to the Rampart Scandal.

Early career 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 shooting Kevin Gaines was shot and killed on March 18, 1997, by Lyga, who was ultimately determined to have been acting in self-defense. Gaines had ties to Death Row Records and the Bloods and was living with Suge Knight's ex-wife.

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. 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.

Lyga was recorded on November 15, 2013, after an in-service training class at the Los Angeles Police Academy. Detective 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. He stated that he could have killed a truckload of "them" and not felt anything and would be happy doing it.

In the recording, he called a female captain a "very cute little Hispanic lady who couldn't find her ass with both of her hands". In 1998, the woman had been a detective assigned to investigate the disappearance of Lyga's personnel file. He also said of the woman, "I heard she's been swapped around a bunch of times." He also called a lieutenant a "fucking moron" and another officer a "fruit".

In October 2014, the LAPD Board of Rights recommended that Lyga be terminated. He retired prior to being fired by LAPD Chief Charlie Beck.

In August 2016, the City of Los Angeles agreed to pay Lyga $50,000 for wrongful termination. However, the city admitted no wrongdoing and Lyga was not offered his job back as a part of the settlement.

Depictions in media 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. It also features the missing cocaine stolen by LAPD officer Rafael Pérez in order to frame Lyga for the killing of Officer Kevin Gaines.