LOS ANGELES—The saga of the two Los Angeles Department of Transportation employees caught on camera during a porn shoot has escalated to the point where the LAPD and the city attorney have joined the investigation begun last week by the LADOT. The officers have been suspended pending a review of the incident and a final decision by the LADOT of how they should be disciplined.
After having seen the video in question, however, one only can only feel sorry for the employees who, despite an ill-advised breast-cupping and butt slap, were caught red-handed doing nothing.
The video, titled "Back to the Steets," starring Kylee Reese, is found on the Brazzer’s website, AssesinPublic.com, where it was posted in March 2008. The entire video is 47 minutes in length, but the part that contains the LADOT employees is only a few minutes in length, and does not contain any explicit sex.
The action being investigated takes place at Tequila Sound and Auto Glass, located at 535 Gallardo Street in Los Angeles, where a traffic enforcement vehicle is either being picked up or about to be worked on. It appears that the video crew was shooting randomly and stumbled upon the shop and the empty city vehicle sitting in the driveway of the shop. With the camera rolling and no officer in sight, Reese jumps in the driver’s seat and sticks her legs out the window while the cameraman and others are laughing.
While she is still in the car, a traffic officer exits the shop office and moves to the car, opening the door so Reese can get out. He appears to get something from the car and then locks it. Reese encourages him to slap her butt but he just gives her a quick hug and then appears to go back into the shop, out of frame, while Reese and the camera crew continue to frolic in front of the shop with its employees.
It is at this point that a second LADOT traffic enforcement car drives down the street and stops at the shop with the vocal encouragement of the video crew. A traffic officer exits the car, whereupon Reese immediately runs and jumps into his arms and then encourages him to slap her butt, which he does, albeit a little reluctantly. The crew then tells her to pull her top down, which she does and he feels her breasts for a second. His encounter lasts all of 15 seconds, after which Reese and the crew move down the street and the entire LADOT episode comes to an end.
Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time!
Still, the killer combination of porn and city employees has led to a situation in which the Los Angeles Times, whose coverage of the adult entertainment industry is generally deplorable, is able to post a story Monday headlined, “LAPD, City Attorney Join Probe of L.A. Traffic Officers who Allegedly Starred in Porn Video.” Of course, the two officers did not star in anything.
Hopefully, once the investigation is complete, the two men will be returned to duty, though as traffic enforcement officers who dole out those increasingly expensive tickets, they should probably be taken off the streets for a few days anyway. Firing either one would be a travesty, but considering the exaggerated rhetoric coming out of the mouths of city officials, anything is possible.
"After we were provided the names of the individuals allegedly involved in the misconduct, both employees were immediately placed on administrative leave," said Amir Sedadi, the LADOT's interim general manager. "Because we take the incident so seriously, and in order to ensure that the investigation is done thoroughly, a request was made and granted for the Los Angeles Police Department, City Attorney, and Personnel Department to assist in the investigation and provide recommendations."
That comment has nothing on the hyperbolic twaddle emanating from Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who heads up the city’s Transportation Committee and is the person who asked the LADOT to expand its investigation beyond an internal review and bring in city law enforcement. He wants to get to the bottom of what happened, and find out who was involved and how far up the LADOT ladder this thing goes.
"The entire chain of command is in the discussion at this point," Rosendahl told NBC4 LA. "Who knew what when, and why wasn't it shared? They're all part of the investigation.
"I want a full-scale investigation,” he added. “I want LAPD, the City Attorney, I want (LADOT) personnel to do a full-scale investigation."
Rosendahl told NBC4 that even criminal charges are on the table, promising, "There are no limits to where this will go at this point."
In that case, how about the Department of Homeland Security? Have they been asked to weigh in on the LADOT Porn Scandal of 2011, and if not... why not?
