officers - The Black Vault

F0-350 (f\~V. 5·8·81)
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(Indicate page, name of
newspaper, city and state.)
(Mount Clipping in Space Below)
THE OUTLOOK
~~::~n: WED • 1\ft.o.AR 6 ~ 1991
Front Sect~on, Page 1 .
Tille: FBI JOINS LAPD PROBE OF
TAPED POLICE BEATING
t ~ '"':'! ... ~ ... -~ I
ei Howaril s: ·aantman
OOPLEY,NEWS SERVICE
· #re~dy rockea by tne resi.t,nation .of
aeveral top staff members and commlBijioners,
the Los Angeles Police Department
'Was jolted Tuesday by the nationwide
broadcast of officers beating
·:~ man With nightsticks as he hunched
ec>vei' Ol!, the ground.
~ • hi addition to an investigation al­
:,'*eady .begun by the LAPD's Internal
:Mairs Division 1
the FBI and District
Attorney's Office on Tuesday an­
·nounced independent probes of the
beating.
Police Chief Daryl Gates · ~d he
found the violence "shocking," but defended
the department's recorq.
"Anyone who views the tape would
:probably hasten to make a judgment,"
'Gates told the city's Police Commis­
··Sion at its weekly meeting. "But even if
we determine the officers were indeed
·~out of line in this~e, it is an aberrat
.
':!tio~yor Tom ~radley said he· ":as "as
f: shocked and as outraged as anyone" by
~-the event, which occurred. early ~un­
~-~-day morning in the Lake V1ew Terrace
~:district of the northeast San Fem~do
t; Valley.
f~-~ "This is something that we cannot
. ;and will not tolerate," Bradley said. "It
. ·,is now a matter of our identifying and
,;finding·witnesses - developing the in­
~··Jormation. 1 assure you .that once
I1
80-33B; 44-
Character:
or
Classification: Civil Rights
Submitting Office:
LOS ANGELES
Indexing:
t ·thaV~ -~.~~n. e, ~p;:;:~ ::;o:~·Wbe
'taken by the P.olice Commission.'-'
i ·.' A' home Video made .by .amateur
t photographer. 'George :Holliday shows
.' Rodney King, '25, .a heavy~set man
1J dressed in light .·pants, arid a ~ark
'J T -shirt, being ~ten imd kicked by a
}-'group o{ p6lice Qfficers ¢tar they ,pull-
1
~ ed him' ·out. of a car. _, · ··
:. Th~ ~Pe was ·f'll8t .aired Mo~day
night on independent television station
~ KTLA ,Ill?~ subsequently broadcast.
!\ ~ .. ~~ 9 i~} ~~;~:~:.~: #~~: ~• • ~; ~·~ ,~~ ':; ~ ·~~ :.~:• ~ ,~,4~ I
Tuesday throughout the nation: : · '
The officers used their nightstickS to
strike'~· on the b&,ck of lii8 legs, 'the
İkidney area and th~ h~.d w~e .several.
others watched. · · · · · ., · '= • \
; Lt. Fred Nixon, a.police spi>i.cesman,
' said initial reports indicated King "ajd .
not submit willingly to arrest." Niion
also noted ~t a Taser stun. gun ~d
been used to try to subdu~ ~King~ ~:~"..; ·~
. ~e :altercation occurred after ,(,'4~1:;.~
. ~
SEARCHED INDEXED, ___!
SERIALIZED .·:z flLED.1----1
MAR 1 2 1991
fBI-lOS ANGELES I
. .. . .. I /Jfr'l
fomia Highway Patrol officers
sought assistance from Los Angeles
police in the chase of a car
·driven by King that had been
·sp'eeding on the freeway ~at
more than 100 mph, Nixon wd.
: ,Late Tuesdity, Los Angeles
!
i police said King bad been book-
ed at the jail ward at County­
USC Medic81 ·Center tBild was
. being held· on an alleged parole
. Violation. ·
· ·Several ciVil. Tights ;groups,
. ·who have ·often tangled with
Gates·· in the past, called on
Bradley to order an ~d~pendent
city probe of the mc1dent.
"The time has come to take a
very deep look at what the department
doe's," said Ramona
Ripston, head of the Los Angeles
chapter· of the American
·•
Civil Liberties Union.
"Chief .Daryl Gates J]1USt be
·held ·responsible for this kind of
, brutal response. We know from
: .complaints we ·l'eceive in this
~ office that brutality takes place
1\~~uently ~.the city," R.~ipston
wd. ~ t
J Police Commissioner ~e
Lomax, a black commum r,.
' livist, said she .saw uo • '(,
: ~vidence the attack ·was .,
;J.notivated, ~ut said "sc:~O
~ ...... 1 and senous quest
. ~ -!--;3 " King., b'lb... II 00.
' t' n rBJ~HN.• lS ,