Dorner Carjack Victim Says He Will Sue City of Los Angeles for Reward Money

A man who was carjacked by rogue ex-LAPD officer Chris Dorner said he intends to file a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles to attempt to collect a $1 million reward for information leading to Dorner's arrest.

Dorner carjack victim Rick Heltebrake is the manager and caretaker for Boy Scouts Camp Tahquitz on Highway 38 near Glass Road, and he is one of the last people to speak to Dorner and see him alive.

His phone call alerting authorities of Dorner's presence helped trigger one of the largest law enforcement responses ever seen in the San Bernardino Mountains, as well as the sequence of events that ended with Dorner's death.

Read about Heltebrake's encounter with Dorner on Long Beach Patch

Heltebrake filed a claim back in February with the City of Los Angeles to collect a $1 million reward issued for information leading to Dorner's arrest.  

As reported on April 5 in the Los Angeles Times, city officials decided to set up a panel of three retired judges to determine which claimants would receive money - Heltebrake is not the only one who has made claim.

Heltebrake's attorney, Allen Thomas, wrote in an email that he believes that process to be "arbitrary."

“The City has left us no choice but to seek redress in the Los Angeles Superior Court because they arbitrarily and capriciously established an unfair, one sided process that ignores Heltebrake’s fundamental, due process rights," wrote Thomas.

He wrote that Heltebrake is concerned that the city's process will not allow him to question witnesses and present evidence to the tribunal. Heltebrake is also concerned that the hearing will not be open the public.

Encounter with Dorner

Heltebrake, who spoke with Redlands Patch in February, encountered Dorner on a remote mountain road, and was forced to give up his car.

"On my way back up Glass Road coming around a right hand curve I ran into Mr. Dorner," Heltebrake told Patch. "I saw some movement, off to the left in the snow by the trees, and saw Mr. Dorner coming out of the trees with a rifle aimed at my head, and I saw a crashed car behind him.

"He came towards the driver side window of my truck, I heard him say 'I don't want to hurt you, just get out and start walking and take your dog.'

"That's what we did."

As soon as his cell got reception he called the law.

"I called a local deputy who lives in the area. He's the one that patrols this area for San Bernardino County. And pretty much he's 9-1-1."

Heltebrake is seeking the entire $1 million reward, according to the email sent out by his attorney.  The full letter from his attorney to the LAPD can be viewed at right.

Authorities believe Dorner, who was fired by the Los Angeles Police Department in 2009, is accountable for four killings in the space of ten days: a former Moorpark High School and College basketball and his fiancee, who was an LAPD captain's daughter, in Irvine on Feb. 3, Riverside police Officer Michael Crain on Feb. 7, and San Bernardino County sheriff's Detective Jeremiah MacKay on Feb. 12.

Crain was a Redlands High School graduate, a student at Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa, and a Beaumont resident. MacKay worked in the Big Bear area and Yucaipa, and he was a resident of Redlands. Both men left behind wives and young children.