officers - The Black Vault

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----------~(M~o~u~nt~C~Ii~pp~in~~g~in~S~pa~ce:_:B~e~lo~w~)_________ ~Date:
r
Bradley,
lawmakers
urge probe
:of brutality
: By Howard S. Gantman
: .COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
: With the outcry growing over a videotape
showing Los Angeles police repeatedly
beating a black man, Mayor Tom
Bradley and two City Council members
iJ called separately W ~dnesday. for pro~es
· Of police brutality m the City and 1ts
possible racial motivation.
Bradley and other top officials were so
"overwhelmed" by thousands of angry
callers from all over the country who had
seen the tape that the mayor drafte~ a
letter that will be sent to them proclaiming
his shock and outrage.
"I will stop at nothing less than learning
the complete truth in this outrageous
case," Bradley wrote. "Justice will. be
meted out to those who deserve punishment."
The mayor said he wants a Police ~ommission
investigation to "go beyond the
individual beating and ~xamine w~ether
there has been a failure m lead:rsh!p ~d
training or even a racis! ~otl.vatlon . m
several recent controversial mcidents Involving
blacks or Hispanics.
Councilman Zev Y aroslavsky c~ed f~r .
the Public Safety Committee to ~mx;nedi­
.ately hold hearings throughout the city t:
take public testimony on whether there 1s
a pattern of excessive force by.poli~e and
whether it is sparked by rac1al b1as. A
vote is expected next week on
the motion.
"I am outraged by this incident
and the public is outraged,"
Yaroslavsky said.
"There needs to be a hard look
at what is going on in the department
and what is going on
in the streets of the city."
Councilman Michael Woo introduced
a separate motion directing
Police Chief Daryl
Gates and the Police Com~sion
to report to the counc!J
next week on the status of theu
. ~ probes.
In a related development,
I prosecutors rejected the police
request to file charges of evading
arrest and reckless .driving
· against Rodney Glen King, 25,
' the apparently defenseless man
· struck by baton-wielding offi­
-cers after a car chase early Sun­
! day.
Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman
for District Attorney Ira ~~er,
Edition:
THE OUTLOOK
THURS., MAR 7, 1991
Front Section, Page 1
BRADLEY, LAWt-iAKERS URGE
me: PROBE OF BRUTALITY
CharaCter:
CIVIL RIGHTS
C~teation: 44A-LA-119954 i 80-3~
Submitting Office:
IDS ANGELES
m~xm~o~=~~------~~-----.
SEARCHED'::---- INDEXED. ____!
SERIAliZED, __ ~ fiL~O. . -·
MAR 2 0 1991
if
FBI - LOS ANGELES J.
I said prosecutors con~luded
a
more detailed investigation was
needed before any charges
could be filed against the Altadena
resident.
King, released _from sta~ prison
in December after bemg paroled
from a 2'12-year sentence
for robbery, had been held in.
jail without bail since Sunday
on suspicion of violating parole.
But based on an interview
with him and other circumstances,
parole officials decided
he should be released Wednesday,
said state Department of
Corrections spokesman Jerome
DiMaggio.
Shortly before he was released,
King held a brief news
conference with pool reporters
at County Jail and denied police
allegations that he had resisted
arrest.
"I was scared for my life,"
King said. "So I laid down, and
I took it like a man."
Sitting in a wheelchair, King
displayed the many cuts and
bruises that covered his body,
including a cast on his right leg,
scars on his chest from a police
~tun gun,_ a battered face and a
FBI.'DOJ