officers - The Black Vault

I
Taser electric stun device and
beaten by officers.
A message from Koon's car to
the Foothill Division station at
12:56 a.m. described the incident:
"You just had a big time
use of force. Tased and beat the
suspect of CHP pursuit, Big
Time."
The response, from a computer
terminal in the station watch
commander's office: "Oh well.
rm sure the lizard didn't deserve
it. HaHa. I'll let them know
O.K."
At 1il2.a.m., the Powell-Wind
unit transmitted several messages
fu another LAPD car assigned to
an unidentified officer.
Among the messages sent from
the Powell-Wind car: "I haven't
beaten anyone this bad in a long
time."
The response: "Oh, not again.
Why for you do that. I thought
you agreed to chill out for awhile.
What did he do."
To which the Powell-Wind car
replied: "I think he was dusted"
- slang for being under the in- .
fluence of PCP - "many broken
bones later. After the pursuit."
The transcript also reveals a
reference to the film "Gorillas in
the Mist" in a message from the
car assigned to Powell and Wind
less than a half-hour before the
King incident. ,
Los Angeles police Cmdr. Rick
Dinse said Monday that the
statement was a racial slur.
That passage began when an
unidentified unit messaged that
it was on a stakeout of a Sunland­
Tujunga area house with auto
burglary suspects inside.
The Powell-Wind car responded:
••sounds almost exciting as
our last call. It was right out of ·
Gorillas in the Mist."
Angeles Urban League, said the
messages sickened him.
"It provides clear evidenC() of
the savage, racist brutality that
was inflicted on Rodney King,"
Mack said. "It reaffirms our contention
all along that all of them
. should be fired, criminal charges
1
filed, and they should never be
: allowed to carry a badge again."
I
Ramona Ripston, head of the
Southern California chapter of
the American Civil Liberties Union;
accused Gates of covering
the incident up by not releasing
the contents earlier.
"I think it's the same old attitude
on Chief Gates' .part - he
thought it was an aberration, but
the statements indicated that it
wasn't, he said it was not a racial
~ncident, but it clearly did have
racial overtones," Ripston said.
She said the delay in releasing
the transcript shows that Gates
had a cavalier attitude about no-
The reply: "Ha~aHaHa. Let
me guess who be the parties." r- ~~-----..... ~-~----~ ...-- ..... e-,#-----·--.. ..--........,....~-----~~&