Correspondence: complaints against LAPD, 1978-1991, p. 126 |
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"It is not a rejection (of the case]
forever, or an indication that we
are going to file." said Roger
Gunson, head of the district attorney's Special Investigations Division.
Meanwhile, accounts from the
California Highway Patrol suggested that what should have been
a relatively simple arrest at 12:30
a.m. Sunday morning escalated
wildly out of control.
The pursuit of King's white 1988
Hyundai waa initiated by CHP
officers, who estimated that King's
car,was hitting speeds as high as
115 m.p.h. on the westbound Foothill, Freeway. The CHP said they
called for assistance and had pulled
King over in Lake View Terrace in
the San Fernando Valley when
several LAPD officers "jumped Into the mess," said a law enforcement source familiar with the report CHP officers filed with their
supervisors.
When the sedan finally stopped
in the 11700 block of Foothill
Boulevard, King was ordered out of
the car via a loudspeaker and he
"appeared to be acting funny, but
not violent—laughing and pointing
up to the LAPD helicopter that was
there."
, The source said that a police
sergeant told the CHP that his
officers would handle things. Witnesses said King was already lying
on the ground when a police officer
shot him with a stun gun, delivering an electrical shock of 50,000
volts. Officers then clubbed him
wildly. There was a brief lull and
King lay silent until one officer
stomped on his head.
One of the CHP officers at the
scene exhorted the police officers
to stop the beating bul was told, in
effect, to "stay out of it," according
to the source.
"Basically, they beat the guy
half to death," the source said.
King was later hogficd, with
handcuffs around his wrists
and ankles, then taken away In an
ambulance.
As King talked about the beating
Wednesday, his speech was slurred
and repetitive. He seemed dazed.
And his account of what led to the
attack differed considerably from
that offered by police.
"There was no chase," King
contended, Insisting that he was
doing 45 m.p.h. In a 35-m.p.h. zone.
After he pulled his car to a stop,
King said he was told to put his
hands in full view and that he
complied. Polico told him to get out
of tho car and lie down, and King
said he did.
'They shocked me . . . they
paused for a minute and then they
struck me across tho face real hard
with a billy club," King said, his
face lopsided with swelling and a
fresh scar on his right cheek. He
lifted hia hospital garb to show
other marks, a large bruise on hia
chest, a fading one on hia arm, part
of his right leg in a cast
"My ankles. They beat where it
hurt in my ankles, they beat my
whole body where it hurt ... It
hurts real bad."
King, who stands 6-foot-3 and
weighs 225 pounds, said he did not
resist police.
"No, no, no. I wouldn't strike
back," King said. "I don't think no
one would strike back against four
or five guns aimed at him."
King's attorney, Robert Rentzer,
said some of King's teeth were
knocked out. A doctor who treated
him said King took at least 20
stitches, five of them in the mouth,
and had so many cuts that he
required antibiotics to prevent infection.
"He looked like he was run over
by a freight train," Rentzer remarked. "He is in pain and has
some problems with his memory.
Tho word terrlblo doesn't describe
how ho looks."
Tho Investigation into tho alleged police brutality moved steadily forward Wednesday.
John R. Dunne, assistant U.S.
attorney general for civil rights,
said the Justice Department Is
conducting a parallel Inquiry to
ensure that local authorities do •
proper Job.
The violent Images of white
police officers pounding an apparently defenseless black man have
raised the ire of civil rights groups
from the ACLU to the National
Assn. for the Advancement of
Colored People, and has brought
one more embarrassing controversy to a Police Department recently
saddled with plenty.
Former Laker Jamaal Wilkes
alleges the LAPD detained him
because of the color of his skin last
December when lie was pulled
over and handcuffed by two officers.
Disclosure of Wilkes' complaint
came on the heels of the federal
Jury award of $540,000 to former
major league baseball player Joe
Morgan, who alleged In a lawsuit
that he was Illegally detained and
roughed up in 1988 by a Los
Angeles police officer who had
mistaken the Hall or Pamcr for a
drug runner. Morgan was grabbed
by the neck at Los Angeles International Airport, thrown to tho
floor and handcuffed before a
crowd of onlookers.
In recent months, Bradley has
moved to strengthen tho civilian
Police Commission that oversees
the department, but lost two veteran members through resignations
this week.
While Gates called the booting
an aberration, Bradley said It
points to a breakdown in leadership
that begins with the chief himself.
"The supervision does, In fact,
flow from the top of the department down—through his orders
and instructions, through hia training," the mayor said. "All of that Is
connected. Wc want to see where
there was a breakdown, a departure from established orders and
procedures in this case."
Neither Gates nor any other
police official would comment on
the King case, pending the outcome of the department's internal
investigation.
Police contend King fought their
attempts to restrain them. But
the videotape made by amateur
photographer George Holliday
from the second-floor balcony of
his nearby apartment—along wllh
more than a dozen eyewitness
accounts—have called Into question the police officers' version.
Josie Morales, who was asleep in
her apartment when sho heard
Sunday night's commotion, said
about 10 police officers formed on
Irregular circle around the prone
King. Sho said sho saw an officer
shoot him with tho stun gun and
then begin clubbing him. King
tried to got up when two more
officers struck him with batons.
"Ho didn't touch anybody. He
got up and ran blindly, but not
running at anyone, Just trying to
got away," Morales suid. Wo
thought maybe they'd stopped him
for guns or drugs or oven murder.
. . . There was nothing that tho
guy did lhat could warrant that
kind of beating. ..."
King, 25, from Altadena, has
been working as a maintenance
man at Dodger Stadium but was to
start a construction job on Monday,
the day after the Incident with
police.
He was released from prison in
December after serving a year for
second-degree robbery. A parole
supervisor speculated that he
might not have slopped because he
feared a speeding ticket would
jeopardize his parole. But King said
he pulled over as soon as ho saw
the red lights.
"I may have been speeding Just a
little bit," he said Wednesday. .
King's attorneys said they wore
preparing to file a civil rights suit
against the LAPD.
"But for the tape I'm nol sure
Justice would have been done,"
Rentzer suid. "Wc don't know
what tho full extent of Mr. King's
injuries arc . . . It could be worth
millions of dollars."
But King's family emphasized
through their luwyors thai their
cane would not bo about racism.
"They are nol looking lo lurn
this Into a racial crusado, Rentzer
said. "Ills rights were totally violated |but| It's his rights, nol the
rights of u race or creed or a
religion that's al Issue hore. It's the
lights of o human being."
Timet staff writers Leslie B*rg*r,
Mohant Lee Cetvm, AsMey Dime, *»»••
son HwwieJi Osn Ingram, HMSM #•
Oslrtw, Merrl Itemerg and Lois Tim*
nkik eentfttmte* to tMa atery.
Object Description
| Title | Correspondence: complaints against LAPD, 1978-1991 |
| Description | Newspaper clippings (Los Angeles Times, L.A. Weekly, Los Angeles Daily News, New York Times, Sentinel) and magazine articles (U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek) documenting Los Angeles Police Department misconduct under Chief Daryl F. Gates, 1978-1991, compiled by Irving Kessler and Lynn F. Kessler. Includes: Introduction, Contents, Excessive force, Rodney King, Mexican nationality, Civil rights, Property, Silence, Discrimination, Accountability, Gates intolerance, Recommendations. PART OF A SERIES: Materials in the series fall into one of several categories related to the Independent Commission's work product: (1) Commission meeting materials, which include meeting agendas, work plans, memoranda, and articles about police misconduct that were circulated and reviewed during the Commission's internal meetings; (2) public correspondence, which includes citizen complaints against the LAPD in the form of written testimony, articles, and an audio cassette tape, as well as letters drafted by citizens in support of the LAPD; (3) summaries of interviews held with LAPD officers regarding Departmental procedures and relations; (4) public meeting materials, which include transcripts, supplementary documents, and witness statements that were reviewed at the Commission's public meetings; (5) press releases related to the formation and work product of the Commission; and (6) miscellaneous materials reviewed by the Commission during its study, including LAPD personnel and training manuals, a memorandum of understanding, and messages from the LAPD's Mobile Digital Terminal (MDT) system. |
| Coverage date | 1978/1991 |
| Creator |
Kessler, Irving, compiler Kessler, Lynn F., compiler |
| Publisher (of the original version) | Los Angeles Times; L.A. Weekly; U.S. News & World Report; Los Angeles Daily News; New York Times; Newsweek; Sentinel |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California, USA; Washington, DC, USA; New York, New York, USA |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California |
| Date created | 1991 |
| Date issued | 1978/1991 |
| Type |
texts images |
| Format | 368 p. |
| Format (aat) |
clippings (information artifacts) articles summaries |
| Format (imt) | application/pdf |
| Language | English |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Part of collection | Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department, 1991 |
| Series | Independent Commission File List |
| File | Complaints, suggestions, and support |
| Box and folder | box 23, folders 7-9 |
| Provenance | The collection was given to the University of Southern California on July 31, 1991. |
| Rights | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained. |
| Physical access | Contact: Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, Libraries, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189; specol@dots.usc.edu |
| Repository name | USC Libraries Special Collections |
| Repository address | Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 |
| Repository email | specol@dots.usc.edu |
| Filename | indep-box23-07_09 |
Description
| Title | Correspondence: complaints against LAPD, 1978-1991, p. 126 |
| Format (imt) | image/tiff |
| Physical access | Contact: Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, Libraries, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189; specol@dots.usc.edu |
| Full text | "It is not a rejection (of the case] forever, or an indication that we are going to file." said Roger Gunson, head of the district attorney's Special Investigations Division. Meanwhile, accounts from the California Highway Patrol suggested that what should have been a relatively simple arrest at 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning escalated wildly out of control. The pursuit of King's white 1988 Hyundai waa initiated by CHP officers, who estimated that King's car,was hitting speeds as high as 115 m.p.h. on the westbound Foothill, Freeway. The CHP said they called for assistance and had pulled King over in Lake View Terrace in the San Fernando Valley when several LAPD officers "jumped Into the mess," said a law enforcement source familiar with the report CHP officers filed with their supervisors. When the sedan finally stopped in the 11700 block of Foothill Boulevard, King was ordered out of the car via a loudspeaker and he "appeared to be acting funny, but not violent—laughing and pointing up to the LAPD helicopter that was there." , The source said that a police sergeant told the CHP that his officers would handle things. Witnesses said King was already lying on the ground when a police officer shot him with a stun gun, delivering an electrical shock of 50,000 volts. Officers then clubbed him wildly. There was a brief lull and King lay silent until one officer stomped on his head. One of the CHP officers at the scene exhorted the police officers to stop the beating bul was told, in effect, to "stay out of it," according to the source. "Basically, they beat the guy half to death," the source said. King was later hogficd, with handcuffs around his wrists and ankles, then taken away In an ambulance. As King talked about the beating Wednesday, his speech was slurred and repetitive. He seemed dazed. And his account of what led to the attack differed considerably from that offered by police. "There was no chase," King contended, Insisting that he was doing 45 m.p.h. In a 35-m.p.h. zone. After he pulled his car to a stop, King said he was told to put his hands in full view and that he complied. Polico told him to get out of tho car and lie down, and King said he did. 'They shocked me . . . they paused for a minute and then they struck me across tho face real hard with a billy club," King said, his face lopsided with swelling and a fresh scar on his right cheek. He lifted hia hospital garb to show other marks, a large bruise on hia chest, a fading one on hia arm, part of his right leg in a cast "My ankles. They beat where it hurt in my ankles, they beat my whole body where it hurt ... It hurts real bad." King, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 225 pounds, said he did not resist police. "No, no, no. I wouldn't strike back," King said. "I don't think no one would strike back against four or five guns aimed at him." King's attorney, Robert Rentzer, said some of King's teeth were knocked out. A doctor who treated him said King took at least 20 stitches, five of them in the mouth, and had so many cuts that he required antibiotics to prevent infection. "He looked like he was run over by a freight train," Rentzer remarked. "He is in pain and has some problems with his memory. Tho word terrlblo doesn't describe how ho looks." Tho Investigation into tho alleged police brutality moved steadily forward Wednesday. John R. Dunne, assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights, said the Justice Department Is conducting a parallel Inquiry to ensure that local authorities do • proper Job. The violent Images of white police officers pounding an apparently defenseless black man have raised the ire of civil rights groups from the ACLU to the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, and has brought one more embarrassing controversy to a Police Department recently saddled with plenty. Former Laker Jamaal Wilkes alleges the LAPD detained him because of the color of his skin last December when lie was pulled over and handcuffed by two officers. Disclosure of Wilkes' complaint came on the heels of the federal Jury award of $540,000 to former major league baseball player Joe Morgan, who alleged In a lawsuit that he was Illegally detained and roughed up in 1988 by a Los Angeles police officer who had mistaken the Hall or Pamcr for a drug runner. Morgan was grabbed by the neck at Los Angeles International Airport, thrown to tho floor and handcuffed before a crowd of onlookers. In recent months, Bradley has moved to strengthen tho civilian Police Commission that oversees the department, but lost two veteran members through resignations this week. While Gates called the booting an aberration, Bradley said It points to a breakdown in leadership that begins with the chief himself. "The supervision does, In fact, flow from the top of the department down—through his orders and instructions, through hia training," the mayor said. "All of that Is connected. Wc want to see where there was a breakdown, a departure from established orders and procedures in this case." Neither Gates nor any other police official would comment on the King case, pending the outcome of the department's internal investigation. Police contend King fought their attempts to restrain them. But the videotape made by amateur photographer George Holliday from the second-floor balcony of his nearby apartment—along wllh more than a dozen eyewitness accounts—have called Into question the police officers' version. Josie Morales, who was asleep in her apartment when sho heard Sunday night's commotion, said about 10 police officers formed on Irregular circle around the prone King. Sho said sho saw an officer shoot him with tho stun gun and then begin clubbing him. King tried to got up when two more officers struck him with batons. "Ho didn't touch anybody. He got up and ran blindly, but not running at anyone, Just trying to got away," Morales suid. Wo thought maybe they'd stopped him for guns or drugs or oven murder. . . . There was nothing that tho guy did lhat could warrant that kind of beating. ..." King, 25, from Altadena, has been working as a maintenance man at Dodger Stadium but was to start a construction job on Monday, the day after the Incident with police. He was released from prison in December after serving a year for second-degree robbery. A parole supervisor speculated that he might not have slopped because he feared a speeding ticket would jeopardize his parole. But King said he pulled over as soon as ho saw the red lights. "I may have been speeding Just a little bit," he said Wednesday. . King's attorneys said they wore preparing to file a civil rights suit against the LAPD. "But for the tape I'm nol sure Justice would have been done," Rentzer suid. "Wc don't know what tho full extent of Mr. King's injuries arc . . . It could be worth millions of dollars." But King's family emphasized through their luwyors thai their cane would not bo about racism. "They are nol looking lo lurn this Into a racial crusado, Rentzer said. "Ills rights were totally violated |but| It's his rights, nol the rights of u race or creed or a religion that's al Issue hore. It's the lights of o human being." Timet staff writers Leslie B*rg*r, Mohant Lee Cetvm, AsMey Dime, *»»•• son HwwieJi Osn Ingram, HMSM #• Oslrtw, Merrl Itemerg and Lois Tim* nkik eentfttmte* to tMa atery. |
| Filename | indep-box23-07-04~07.tif |
| Archival file | Volume76/indep-box23-07-04~07.tif |
