officers - The Black Vault

~(>ncerned that . . . any action of
the independent citizens' commission
could be invaiidated based
upon the whims or the political
fi1otivations of the City Council
members," he said. ·
. "It is an incredibly damaging
precedent if it's allowed to stand,"
Fabiani said.
No decision had been made late
Friday about whether to fight the
council action in court on Monday,
fabiani said, adding, "It will be a ,
~Qng weekend of deliberation and
legal research."
1 : Garcia said Friday he is "person­
~lly considering:• whether to resign
·from the commission because of
·the' council's interference.
i : "Dc;i they or do they not want
Civilian oversight [of the Police
Department]?" Garcia said. "If
they want to take over the functions
of the Police Commission,
that's fine with me."
·-councilman Michael Woo, the
only council member who has
called for Gates' resignation; questioned
whether the council's move
friday .. would further cripple city
government. ·
-. ··"It heals some of the wounds and
opens others," he said. "It's· ex­
~mely chaotic. It shows the city
government is in disarray."
1
·Woo and council members Ruth
-Galanter and Robert Farrell voted
1¥ainst the move to reinstate
'17ates.
j The council also voted 9 to 4 to
•
Council
members said Bradley
1 and Garcia made short statements
after being invited into the meeting
- J and that most of the council's
appropriate $150,000 t6 the Police que~tion.s over the next hour and a
Commission to hire an independent . half.)v.~.re -directed at Garcia. The
counsel to investigate the opera- mood; said Picus, "vias calm, reations
of the Police Department. 1somible and reasoned."
The council also voted to Qrder . Ferraro said Bradley "came in,
Gates to report to the counciJ on a he pleaded his case, and maybe
biweekly basis about the state ofj convinced three council memthe
department. · · · bers. . . . He wanted to stand by
The chain of events was set off his commission's action."
b~ the March 3 ·police beating of, Bradley declined to comment
Kmg, a 25-year-old black parolee when he emerged from the council
from Altadena, after a car chase in I chamber at 2:45p.m.
~he. San Fernando Vall:Y· The Earlier, Bradley told reporters
mcident was captured on vi_q~otape he requested the meeting with the
by an amateur camera~_an; ~nd the council to put the Gates controverstark,.
black-and-white Images_ sy "in the proper context." Bradley
have been b~oadcast aroun~ the, insisted that the commission's reworld
repeatedly. . ' moval of Gates was an "independ-
1
n ~ailing for Gates' ~es!gnation 1 ent" .. ·decision, free of influence .
this week, Bradley said It would ·from the mayor's office.
begin a "healing process" that• In a flurry of phone calls over
wou!d start to ~epair the city's the previous 24 hours, the mayor's
tarmshed reputation. I office had tried to persuade council
Othe:s, inclu~n~ ~errru:o, said members to back away from overthe
Pollee Commission s action and turning the commission's action.
Bradley's "premature" attack. on I . .
Gates had further divided the city. As the council was. meetmg,
"If you're going to take an action civil righ~s leader Jesse Jack-
. . . especially with a prominent son urged busmesses to boycott the
figure," said Councilman Zev city by scheduling their conven­
Yaroslavsky, "you had better have tions elsewhere, and announced
your ducks lined up. , the start of a drive to register 1
"What the commission did, million new voters.
above all other things, is that it Flanked by leaders of the Amerundermined
the confidence that 10 ican Civil Liberties Union and the
of us [council members] had in 1 National' Assn. for th~ Advancethem."
-~~ . ___ _ ; ment of Colored People, Jackson
-· said a rally would be held at noon.
· today in downtown Los Angeles .
. The· group urged citizens to demand
a change in city government
that. would make the Police Department
accountable to civilians.
"Don't just stop by focusing on
Gates . . . but turn 01,11' anger into
action," Jackson said during a
press conference at the office of the
Los Angeles County Federation of
Labor.
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