officers - The Black Vault

FD·350 (Rev. 5·8·81)
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(Indicate page, name of
newspaper, city and state.)
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/Rev. Jackson ·'
Joins Call for
GateS' Ouster,: .
Scolds Bradley:
• Protest: The civil rights
activist tells demonstrators at : · ..
police headquarters that the
mayor should speak out "more
clearly and decisively" on the : ·
King beating controversy.
By ELAINE WOO
TIMES STAFF WRITER
The Rev. Jesse Jackson added his voice
to those calling for Los Angeles PolicE!
Chief Daryl F. Gates' ouster Saturdayi
while at the same time urging Ma;yor 'l'om
Bradley to speak out "more clearly· and
decisively" on the controversy surrounding
the videotaped police beating of a black
Altadena man. ·
/ Jackson addressed an anti-Gates rally
attended by about 150 protesters outside
police headquarters in downtown Los Angeles.
He was accompanied by U.S. Rep.
Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), who
exhorted the crowd to "keep the pressure
on" Gates to resign.
"This is no aberration," Jackson, speaking
of the March 3 beating of Rodney G.
King, told the crowd. "This is a history of
behavior" fostered by past statements of
Gates that have maligned blacks, Latinos·
and other minorities. "Mr. Gates must
leave."
Jackson said Bradley "must speak out
more clearly· and decisively, using his
moral authority to rally people" q.gainst
police brutality and head off the possibility
of more violent protests.
Although the mayor has expressed outrage
over the incident, he has sidestepped
questions about whether Gates sMUld
resign.
The King beating has racial overtones
because the 15 officers who were present
during the beating are white. Four of the
, officers were indicted by the Los Angeles
:.{:eunty Grand Jury last Thursday
;nn charges ranging from assault
:With a deadly weapon to unneces­
:iarily beating a suspect under color
-:-~f authority. · .
~~ Federal charges also are being .
~.eonsidered
against some of the
:Officers who . wa.tched the beating
;kut apparently .failed to intervene
:-to stop it. White House spokesman
:Marlin Fitzwater said Saturday
::that President Bush considers the
;-ideotaped beating "a pretty
-~nockingJl!ing" .all~ tl!~t he sup- _
.
, · ports an investigation initiated by
the Justice Department.-
Earlier Saturday, actor Alec
· Baldwin (seen recently in "The
Hunt for Red October") lent his
voice to the protest against Gates
that was held at police headquarters.
He mingled with Q.emonstrators
from such groups as Veterans
for Peace and the Socialist Work­
1
!. ers Party while his roommate,
actress Kim Basinger, watched the
scene from a parked car.
\ "I'm here because I live a lot of
, the time in ·L.A. and I'm afraid,"
t .Baldwin said. "I believe the eli­
~ che-next time it could be me."
· "I think Gates is bad for L.A.
~: He's got to go."
· Meanwhile, Peggy Rowe Estra- ,
da, estranged wife of Erik Estrada
·of the old "CHiPS" television series,
said Saturday that she is
.. helping to organize a ,pro-Gates
··citizens group. The gro~p. which
•· calls itself Citizens in Support of
th~ Chief, is planning a sppport
rally in front of the downtown
LOS ANGELES TIMES
~~:~~n:~~~Ro' s~~I;~; ;!~~ 1
T~:
REV. JACKSON JOINS CALL
FOR GATES' OUSTER, SCOLD:
BRADLEY
CharaCter: CIVIL RIGHTS
C~tion: 80-33B
Submitting Office:
LOS ANGELES
Indexing:
SEARCHED INDEXED'----t
SERIAliZED..._ __ FILED·----1
MAR 2 :~ 1991
FBI - LOS ANGELES ~
police headquarters. No date for
the rally has been set.
"I feel that [Gates] is a strong
and honest leader," Peggy Estrada
said. "The blame should remain on
the officers [involved in the beating]
and not on the other 8,000
officers of the LAPD, or on the
chief of police. I -don't think he
ought to be taken down."
In other developments, King's
physician, Dr. :Edmund Chein, said
Saturday that ,tests taken by doctors
at County-USC Medical Cen-
, ter, where King was initially treated,
showed that the Altadena man
was not under "the influence of PCP
or al.cohol at the time of his arrest.
Early police 'statements said that
King resisted arrest-which King
has denied-and that his behavior
suggested drug or alcohol abuse.
King is recuperating at an undisclosed
hospital from surgery to
repair broken c.ranial bones.
Times staff writers David Lauter and
Tracy Wood contributed to this story.
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