officers - The Black Vault

FD·350 (Rev. 5·8·81)
,..,
(Indicate page, name of
newspaper, city and state.)
Pressure by
Bradley, Others
on Gates Grows ;
By HECfOR TOBAR
and RICH CONNELL
TIMES STAFF WRITERS
A political storm that has swirled
around Police Chief Daryl F. Gates
: since the videotaped beating of a
motorist gained intensity Tuesday
after Mayor Tom,Bradley's deCla­
·ration that the case has uncovered
''a dangerous trend of racially mo-
• tivated" misc.onduct by Los Angeles
police officers.
From the state Capitol in Sacramento
to Los Angeles City Hall,
there were new· calls for Gates to
resign, more proposals for longterm
police reforms and an odd
quiet from politicians who long
have been the fiery chief's most
vocal supporters.
Later, in a televised interview
~ from Hawaii, the mayor seemed to •
be nudging Gate~ toward a decision
~ to leave his post. -
In an interview broadcast at 10
p.m. by KCAL Channel 9, Bradley
said that the beating of Rodney G.·
King and its aftermath had caused
the Police Department to suffer
· "grievous" injuries to its reputation
(Mount Clipping in Space Below)
: that would take years to remedy.
· The mayor said: "It would help . . . in
; the healfng process if the chief would
'' retire."
;· It was his strongest statement on what
::,the chief should do since · the political.
. maelstrom began after the March 3 inci-
~ .. dent. .
~· As evidence of th,e political volatility of
,. the case, White House reporters peppered
·~:fresident Bush's spokesman with ques­
;. hons Tuesday about the King beating.
~' "I'm sure, like all Americans, [President
~·.Bush has] seen the tape, which has been
.~'.Played on television so many times,"
: Marlin Fitzwater said. "And I know that he
: shar~s everyone in Americ~·s concern by
r those disturbing pictures. .
''· "But we don't have a position on. the
.. police chief of Los Angeles."
· In that last regard, Bush appeared to
share ambivalence . with Los Angeles City
:Council members who seem downright
,.. uncomfortable when asked what should be
:~·done about Gates.
,: "I'm in a ·very delicate -position," said
·.. Councilman Richard Alatorre. He said that
.·commenting would jeopardize his wish to
·· remain objective as chairman of a committee
that oversees the Police Department.
The debate over Gates was invigorated
· by an extraordinary statement from Bradley
late Monday upon arrival in Hawaii, to
promote the city's bid for the 1993 Super ·
Bowl. Pasadena was selected late Tuesday.
The mayor was responding to the release
of internal communications between officers-computer
logs that indicated officers
had joked about King's beating and made
racial remarks about blacks.
· "The people of this city," Bradley said, ·
, "have been slapped in the face by the
•·attitude and bigotry of these officers. . . .
: It is no longer possible for any objective
···person to regard the King beating as an
· 'aberration.' " .
He continued:" ... there appears to be a
dangerous trend of racially motivated inci­
~ents running through at least some segments
of our Police Department."
The statement was unusual for Bradley,
who in his 18-year tenure ~s mayor
rarely has spoken out with passion on
~-sensitive, race-related issues.
· Other politicians spoke out Tuesday.
·, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San
~~Francisco) cqiled on the people· of Los
~- Angeles to "recapture their police force
~:from the police . . . and turn it back over to
!~the citizens.'' He told a Sacramento news
~conference that the King episode "has not .
~;been dealt with as sternly ar;td as firmly as it
&».should have 'been dealt wtth. That starts
Date: LOS ANGELES TIMES
Edition: \\TED • MAR 20 , 1991
FRONT SECTION, PAGE 1
Title:
Character:
or
Classification:
PRESSURE BY BRADLEY,
OTHERS ON GATES GROWS
Submitting Office:
LOS ANGELES
Indexing:
civil rights
8 O- 3 3 B
SEARCHED INDEXED·---!
SERIALIZED·---.... fiLED~-,.,..,....,.,..._1
MAR 2 i' 1991
FBI -
LOS ANGELES I
I /J Y't)-
;; Gov. Pete Wilson made his first state­
:ment on the incident Tuesday. While not
M~alling on Gates to resign, he said: "The
~savage beating of Rodney King by four
'LAPD officers is a disgrace to their
~].miform and its proud traditions."
"" The Los Angele's County Federation of
::tabor adopted a resolution asking Gates to
resign. Bill Robertson, head of the federation
and one of Bradley's closest political·
allies, said that Gates should "set aside his
monumental ego and do a service to the
community which he claims to Jove."
· Robertson said he was "disappointed"
and "dismayed" that Bradley and the City
Council .had not yet demanded Gates'
resignation.
"I think there is a real groundswell
within the community of people who feel
precisely the same way," Robertson said,
"and we trust Chief Gates will hear this
message.and tender his resignation, for the
good of this city."
One longtime acquaintance of Bradley
speculated that the mayo:r will call for
Qates to resign if and when he believes
"there is no way to put the community back
together again and no way for the department
to function."
Bradley's unusually strong condemnation
~With and ends with thepoliC