officers - The Black Vault

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him," she said, adding that five or six
·officers surrounded King, who swung his
arms wildly and pushed them away.
According to Singer, Koon told King: "If
you don't stop resisting, I'm going to shoot
the ... Taser."
She said. that Koon then told other officers
to "back away" and fired an electric
dart into King's back.
After the beating and arrest, King was
taken to Pacifica Hospital in nearby Sun
Valley for treatment. Two nurses said that
unidentified Los Angeles Police Department
officers taunted King while he was
being treated.
Nurse Carol Diane Edwards. testified
that two officers brought King in wearing
handcuffs and leather restraints on both
ankles and his right wrist.
She said King asked whether he would
be released during the day because "he had
a baseball game to attend. He said that he
worked as an usher at Dodger Stadium.
Edwards then related a conversation between
King and the officers:
"You are not going to be out of here for
a long time," one officer said.
"We played a little baseball tonight,
didn't we?" he asked King.
"What do you mean?" King replied.
"We played a little hardball tonight and
you lost," the officer said.
Edwards testified that she was asked by
police whether she smelled alcohol on
King's breath, and she replied that she did
not. She testified that King ·was not a
problem while in her care.
Lawrence Davis, another nurse at Pacifica
hospital, gave a slightly different version
of the conversation between King and the
· officers and added that he also heard officers
make racial slurs during a conversation
among th_emselves.
"I just heard a couple words - it was
something like, 'This n-- ... ' something
or other."
Davis testified that the officers told him
King was dangerous - a former felon out
on parole for armed robbery - and possibly
under the influ~nce of PCP when they
brought him in.
Davis said that he detected no visible
signs that King had used alcohol or drugs.
· He said that King spoke clearly and cooperated.
Dr. David D. Giannetto, who treated
King, told the grand jury that King appeared
mildly intoxicated. .
"Basically he just said that they, you
know, 'Beat the hell out of me,' actually,
'Beat the s-- out of me,' is what he told
me,'' Giannetto said.
Other witnesses called before the grand
jury included Los Angeles Police Department
officials who identified officers at the
scene of King's arrest.
Sgt. Robert L. Ontiveros of the the department's
Foothill Division identified
Powell and Wind as the officers who were
shown hitting King in the videotape. He
identified Briseno as the officer who initially
stopped Powell from hitting King but
later kicked King himself.