officers - The Black Vault

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•
•(Indicate page, name of
newspaper, city and state.)
(Mount Clipping in Space Below)
Top Valley Officer
Apologizes forKing
Beating
• Police: Some black and
.:.Latino community leaders
~:urge the ouster of Foothill
:·Division commander:
i:By MA YERENE BARKER .
?i!IMES s-r:AI'I' WRITER
. The San Fernando Valley's top
, _police administrator apologized
.t;aturday for the Rodney G. King
'.})eating before black and Latino
:~ommunity leaders, who in turn
i•,called for the commander of the
·embattled Foothill Division police
~.station to be replaced.
A::.. "From the bottom of my heart,
t-,•m very sorry about what hap­
. pened," Deputy Chief Mark A.
::Kroeker said during the first in a
~'Series of community meetings
·11imed at restoring public confi­
·::dence in the Los Angeles Police
~·Department. "In my 26 years on
· the force, I have never experienced
more remorse."
Kroeker promised about 100 Pa­
·coima and Lake View Terrace
·,residents gathered at a Pacoima
~hurch that he would· investigate
.. ~ll police brutality complaints
;ii)rought to him and punish those
"who were responsible if they were
found guilty. "We don't engage in
excessive force in the San Fernando
Valley," he said.
Thirty miles away, about 300
demonstrators gathered in front of
police headquarters downtown for
the third consecutive week to call
tor the ouster of Police Chief Daryl
F. Gates over the highly publicized
:.l:ieating of the black motorist
March 3 in Lake View Terrace.
Elsewhere, an attorney for one
.of the four officers charged with
.'~lony crimes as a result of the
'"king incident, which was video­
-taped by an amateur photographer,
"lashed out at Gates and others for
publicly prejudging his client, Officer
Theodore J. Briseno, jeopardizing
his chance for a fair trial.
7 'This isn't Baghdad," said attorney
John Barnett. "This is the
U.S.A., w:here people get to }).ave
trials."
During his 90-minute appeaf­
;..ance at the Pacoima. church,
. Kroeker, who was transferred to
ihe VaHey B'!Irea1,1 ~hortly after the
King incident, often ·was interrupt-
• ed by applause from the mainly
:..-:§Upportive crowd. Although the
~].leating has outraged large seg­
;-:ntents of the black community, the
l~rgely middle-aged to elderly
people who attended Saturday's
meeting have a-history of support--­
ing the Los Angeles Police Department.
·
No q1,1e_slli?!lli. about Gates' future
. or specifically about the King beating
-were allp~ed by the meeting's
two organizers, the Ministers Fellowship
of the Greater San Fernando
Valley, a black ministers'
group, and Focus ;90s, a black
.,homeowners and business coalition.
"We need to focus our attention
on the healing process," said Fred
Taylor, Focus '90s chairman. "We
-need to take our destiny into our
.. owrr hands:"
Taylor and others asked that a
·black or Latino commander be
placed. in charge of the Foothill
Pi vision.
"Why not just start over with a
clean slate," Taylor said; adding I
. that he has nothing against Capt.
Tim McBride, the present Foothill
commander. "We have to start
somewhere."
Other residents of the largely
minority community policed by the
Foothill Division requested more
-black and Latino street officers:
"Those officers afe not a part of
our community," one young woman
said o~ the 'police 'who patrol the
area. "They don't. live here. We
. need to have more officers who
~-come from our,community.''.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Date:
Edition: SUN, MAR 24, 1991
METRO SECTION, PAGE 5
Title: TOP VALLEY OFFICER
APOLOGIZES FOR KING
BEATING
Character: CIVIL RIGHTS
or
Classification:
80-33B
Submitting Office:
LOS ANGELES
lnde,_·,~RCHEO __ ~ INDEXED ____ ,
SERIALIZED,.__.,._., fl~E0~----,..._..,__
1
MAR 2 '1 1991
FBI - LOS ANGELES (/
Kroeker said- he would take up
the community's requests with
Gates. "We're constantly re-eval­
. uating assignments;" he said.
He promised "firm, fair and
· friendly" law enforcement and said
· he could offer no ~xplanation of the
beating .
~ : "~ w_ill be the first to seek strong
s--