officers - The Black Vault

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through a busy intersection.
The Coroner's Office later ruled Vigil's death a
homicide. A civil lawsuit on behalf of his survivors
is set to go to trial this fall, said attorney
Stephen Y agman, who added that the Justice
Department never responded to his complaint
alleging civil rights violations.
Other than the Los Angeles Police Department ·
- which one black legislator said Thursday in·
eludes ~'urban terrorists" in its ranks - the local
agencies whose conduct will be exam,ined in the
inquiry were not identified by Thornburgh nor
other federal officials. But it was believed that
most big-city police and sherifrs departments are
on the list. .
1The Justice Department probe is the broadest·
yet to follow the March 3 attack on King, who
,. -
sdffered 11 skull fractures, a broken leg,
ii\.unerous cuts and possible damage to
his heart muscle and brain.
:;After being stopped for spe~ in
tlie San Fernando Valley, Kmg was
clubbed and kicked more than 50 times,
. shocked with a Taser gun and hogtied.
·'Three officers used their nightsticks and
:'feet on King while 12 others watched.
~-S~rgery successful
The 25-year-old construction worker,
.who is on parole for robbery, underwent
-~uccessful surgery Thursday for one of
the skull fractures.
. The county grand jury investigating
::~he beating since Monday ret.~ed the
.. indictment late Thursday. D1Btrict At­
. iorney Ira Reiner scheduled a·news conference
today to discuss the grand jury
··probe.
•: ·The key evidence examined by the 23
grand jurors is the two-minute ho~e
·:videotape shot by plumber Q;orge Ho~­
.,_dey, who witnessed the King beating
from across the street .
. . Thornburgh did not say ·whether the
. JU.Stice Department inq~ woul~ focus
·on contentions that police brutality of­
. ten is motivated by racism, although
~several pending complaints do involve
charges of police enmity for blacks and
Hispanics. .
.-"Thornburgh said individual criminal
:allegations of federal civil rights viola­
: tiona by police - including the King
:case - will continue to be investigated
~separately by the FBI. .
i During a boiste:ous Los Angel~ Po~~
•Commission hearmg on the beating, c1vll
:rights activists and black legislators
·charged Thursday that the incident re­
:flected a longstanding pattern of rac·
:ism-fueled brutality by the LAPD, for ..
~which they squarely blamed Gates. The
:8¥2-hour hearing was broadcast live by
!Cable News Network.
~:::~Daryl Gates needs to go!" declared
i;febn Mack, president of the Los Ange~es
:urban League.
: · The 300 people who jammed into ~e
'commission hearing room, along Wlth
:200 other placard-waving demonstrators,
:who gathered outside, cheered wildly in
:~eement when Mack said there is a
~!prutality by some -: not s1;1. but so~e
•-: police officers agrunst Mr1can-Amer1-
• ocanm al esmp . art'cular 1 ."
~- ~ates, who has condemned the King
:b'aa.ting and termed it an "aberration,"
:Sat m grim silence at the commission
'dais, his eyes often downcast. Mterward,
:lie ·repeated his vow not to resign the job
:be. has held for 13 controversy-filled
:Years.
: "Anyone who thinks I'm ,,oing to s~k
-away is absolutely wrong, Gates said,
!describing the raucous hearing "an in­
:teresting experience."
~ J\,ssemblyman Curtis Tucker Jr.; D-Inglewood,
who is chaiiman of the Legislature's
Black Caucus, told the commission
that since the King beating, Los
Angeles motorists stopped by police officers
"don't know if justice will be meted
out or if a judge, jury and executioner is
pulling up behind him.".
Others at the hearing ranged from a
68-year-old man who claimed he was
beaten by police during a traffic stop 33
·years ago to anti-abortion activists who
have accused the LAPD of roughing
them up during protests.
"These are conservative white faces!"
Susan Carpenter McMillian, spokeswoman
for the Right to Life League of
Southern California, screamed at Gates,
who is white and active in Republican
politics. "This is a pro-life Republican
demanding you step down!"
Only two of the 39 people who testified
before the commission defended
Gates, but they were quickly shouted
down. One, 66-year-old Lynn Exe, left
the podium to catcalls and accusations
that she "burned crosses on folks'
lawns!"
The mayor-appointed police panel-supervises
Gates, but ~e chief enjoys civil
service protection from firing unless he
is found to have engaged in gross mis- .
conduct.
Commissioners have said the circumstances
of the King beating do not meet
the legal standard for Gates' dismissal,
although groups like the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored
People disputed that Thursday.
NAACP leaders at the hearing said
Gates has engaged in gross misconduct
by failing to supervise the use of force
by officers as well as by making "intemperate
statements" during the years.
The local NAACP president, Joseph
Duff, appealed to Gates to "become the
leader for peace in this community, not
the leader for war."
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