Deputy Who Shot Reveler Cited in Cross-Burning : Shooting: He was fired but reinstated after Sheriff Block decided that charges stemming from racial incident at jail could not be proved on appeal.

The Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy whose fatal shooting of a New Year’s reveler prompted a complaint by the Mexican government was fired last year for allegedly burning a cross in a jail cell area where black gang members were housed.

The deputy, who is white, was reinstated about four months ago by Sheriff Sherman Block. At the time, Block said he believed the cross-burning charges against the deputy to be true but that his department would have trouble proving them in an appeal.

The deputy, Brian E. Kazmierski, is assigned to the Temple City station. Shortly after midnight on Tuesday, Kazmierski shot and killed Pedro Castaneda Gonzalez, a Mexican national who had been firing a revolver to celebrate the holiday.

Sheriff’s officials say Castaneda, 28, pointed his weapon at the deputy. But at least one of the dead man’s companions disputes that account, and the Mexican government, in a letter of protest to Block, is demanding a thorough investigation.

The incident is under investigation as part of routine policy whenever an officer is involved in a shooting, Sheriff’s Department spokesmen said. Kazmierski has been relieved of field duty pending outcome of the investigation, said Assistant Sheriff Dick Foreman.

Foreman said that while he was dismayed that Kazmierski was reinstated last year, he could not draw any connection between the cross-burning incident and the fatal shooting--especially because the latter is still under investigation.

“There is absolutely no way I can apply what happened in the cross-burning to this incident,” the assistant sheriff said.

He added, however, that “based solely (on the cross-burning), I was not happy with the decision to rehire” Kazmierski and a second deputy, Richard D. Bolks, who also was involved in the jail incident.

Foreman said Kazmierski, 26, and Bolks, 25, were reinstated with some back pay and that “substantial disciplinary action” was taken against them. He said he could not be more specific because of the terms under which the deputies were reinstated.

Since the cross-burning incident, Kazmierski had not been the subject of any other citizens’ complaints or discipline, Foreman said. Before his discharge, Kazmierski had worked nearly a year at the Firestone station in South-Central Los Angeles and, since returning, has been stationed in Temple City.

After a lengthy internal investigation in 1989, the Sheriff’s Department fired Kazmierski and Bolks, saying they had burned a small paper cross in a Men’s Central Jail module assigned to members of the Crips gang.

In a subsequent hearing before the Civil Service Commission, Kazmierski and Bolks denied that they burned a cross.

Hearing officer Huey P. Shepard ruled the department acted properly in firing the men, saying their conduct showed bias and “brought discredit upon themselves, their department and endangered inmates and sworn personnel.”

Later, the commission ordered another hearing. While awaiting that step, the Sheriff’s Department settled the case by reinstating Kazmierski and Bolks. Foreman said Friday that the case was weakened because a key witness, under medical orders not to testify, could no longer be produced.

Allegations of cross-burning at Men’s Central Jail first surfaced during a case involving a black deputy who was fired amid accusations that he stole a candy bar and a hair brush from an inmate. The defense attorney in that case, Laurence B. Labovitz, warned the County Board of Supervisors in November that reinstating Kazmierski and Bolks was a mistake.

“Little excuse can be made in the future for any liability claims which arise as a result of misconduct by these uniformed personnel against the public,” Labovitz said in a letter to the board.