officers - The Black Vault

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FD-350 (Rev. 5·8·81)
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(Mount Clipping in Space Below)
1KiD~'s friend says__p~I~~~J
I alsolimanhandled,
1
an,ft8Unted him1
(Indicate page, name of
newspaper, city and state.)
All, Press Telegram
Long Beach, CA
D~e: Thurs. 1 3/21/91
Edition:
KING'S FRIEND SAYS
POLICE ALSO MANHANDLED
AND TAUNTED HIM
Title:
Character:
or
Classification:
Submitting Office:
MAR 2 9 1991
FBI -
LOS ANGELES
New York Times Service
LOS ANGELES - As Rodney King was beaten
by police March 3, other officers seized one of
King's passengers, Bryant Allen, who says he was
manhandled and taunted in a racially motivated
attempt to provoke him. ·
In an interview, Allen said he feared for his life
as he was made to crawl along· the ground, hearing
his friend's screams and the sounds of police batons
from the far side.ofthe.car.
"He was screaming, 'Stop!' " said Allen, who said
he heard but did not see his friend being beaten.
1
he kind of quit, and all you could hear was
. like bones being broken, a crunching."
.. Allen, 25, said he believed the beating of King
• and the blows directed at him and a second passen­
'~ ger, Freddie Helms, were racially motivated.
The three men in the car were black. The officers
' were white. As many as 21 Los Angeles police offi.
cers were present, of whom a sergeant and three
officers have been indicted on assault charges.
Allen's lawyer, John :aurton, said he would file a
federal civil rights lawsuit. King's lawyer said
Tuesday he also would file suit. None of the three
men in the car has been charged.
A neighbQr's videotape of the beating has led to
calls for the resignation or firing of Chief Daryl
Gates, and prompted inquiries into police brutality
nationwide:
Allen said that at one pomt, a woman officer
intervened when he was threatened with violence.
''She ... had her hand out saying I didn't do anything,"
Allen recalled. "She was saying, 'He's the
one that had his hands up.' "
Nevertheless, he said, he was kicked, manhandled
and threatened by officers who asked, uYou
want to be like your homeboy?"
He said Helms was bloodied after apparently
being struck on the head with a baton.
He said King, who' suffered head injuries in the
beating, was having difficulty remembering the
night of the beating in a coherent way. "It sounded
like· he was talking in riddles, all mixed up," Allen
said. ~-- ----~~