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Woo demands
DAILY NEWS
Ed11ion:
~~·· THURS. ~iliR 28, 1991
Front Section, Page 20
DEMANDS CHIEF'S
CIVIL RIGHTS
By Patrick McGreevy
and Rick Orlov
Daily News Staff Writers
Calls for Police Chief Daryl F.
Gates to resign widened Wednesday
with Councilman Mike Woo
becoming the first council member
to demand that Gates quit
and Councilman Marvin Braude
saying he would "like to see him
resign."
A recall drive against Gates
gained strength when City Attorney
James Hahn issued an opinion
saying the City Charter does
allow an initiative ballot measure
to oust the police chief.
Woo- who tangled publicly
with Gates at a council meeting
last week - said Gates was not
capable of rebuilding the department's
tarnished image in the
wake of the police beating of
Rodney Glen King following a personal supporters against his
March 3 traffic stop in Lake critics ... (in) a fight which
View Terrace.
threatens to tear this city aPart,"
"The chief of police has a Woo said. If Gates continues to
higher responsibility to provide resist calls for his resignation, the
moral leadership for the depart- . Police Commission should rement
and to set the right tone for move him, he said.
the conduct of his officers," Woo Gates responded at a later
said. "Today, Chief Gates is no news conference that he is trying
longer capable of providing that to get back to running the Police
moral leadership."
Department and would not be
The beating of King, an unem- sidetracked by callS for his resigployed
black construction work- nation.
er, by Los Angeles Police Depart- "Everybody has their opinion,
ment officers has raised new Councilman Woo has his opinconcems
about racism in the de- ion," Ga~es said.
partment, and Woo said that as Braude suggested that Gates'
·long as Gates remains on the job resignation would be best for the
he threatens to divide the city. .· :city but stopped short of calling
"Chief Gates is concentrating on Gates to resign outright -
his effort into saving his job, echoing the. stance taken by
which instead should be put into Mayor Tom Bradley.
managing the department and "I would like to see him resign
making changes which would re- but I will not demand his resignastore
t'A.- public's confidence," tion at this time," Braude said.
Wt', said at a news conference. No other council members
fhe chief has been "pitting his · have called on Gates to resign, al-
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though Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky
said he hopes Gates retires
in August when he turns 65.
"It would be appropriate to announce
the retirement now,"
'Yaroslavsky said. "If he announced
it now, it might enable
the city to put itself back togethert
, .
When told ofWoo's statement,
Bradley again refused to demand
the chiefs resignation, but re­
. peated his statement that the city
cannot recover from the incident
with Gates at the helm of the
LAPD.
"It is my judgment that in
·order for the healing process to
effectively begin there must be
retirement of the chief, (his) removal
from the center of this
controversy before that process
can begin," Bradley said.
· The mayor bridled when asked
why Gates should resign when
the mayor didn't step down two
years ago when he was the subject
LOS ANGELES
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