officers - The Black Vault

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of Bradley and Gates in an attempt
at a victory gesture. But the mayor
and the chief looked tense and they
did not join hands.
"I thought if they buried the
hatchet, they didn't bury it too ·
deeply," said Councilman Zev
Yaroslavsky afterward. "I didn't
detect a lot of warmth."
Grand Jury Probe
On Friday and Monday, the district
attorney's office began conducting
interviews with about 10
rookie police officers employed in
the rank of Police Officer I. The
rookie officers also were subpoenaed
to testify before the grand
jury, a process that began Tuesday
and is scheduled to continue
through this week.
They are among 21 LAPD offi-
- cers who were at the scene of the
King beating, which occurred after
a car chase in the San Fernando
Valley. A sergeant and three officers
have been indicted in the
beating, but an investigation is
continuing into the onlookers.
Diane Marchant, an attorney for
the rookie officers, said her clients
could be fired if they refuse to
cooperate with the grand jury.
Because of that dilemma, she said,
the officers are being "coerced"
into cooperating.
Because they are coerced, she
said, their statements cannot be
· used to file criminal charges
against them.
"You can draw a conclusion from
this that the district attorney does
not consider these officers as suspects,"
she said. "That is based on
the fact that the district attorney is
accepting statements made under
duress. And these are statements
that cannot be used against the
officers in a court of law."
While prosecutors said that no
decision had been made on immunity
for the rookie officers, it is
reasonable for them to assume that
they will not be indicted in connection
with the March 3 beating.
. "Defense attorneys could ·draw
that conclusion," said Mike Botula,
a spokesman for the Los Angeles .
County district attorney's office.
No decision on immunity had been
reached, he said, adding, "But
we're still examining it. We're still
assessing it."
Botula said there have been
. other police abuse cases, ··such as
the 39th and Dalton incident,
where some officers were not
charged with crimes after they
agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
''We recognize there is a legal
situation here involving the officers
being compelled to testify
because of Police Department policy,"
he said. "That has come up in
other cases as well."
Other sources in the district
attorney's office and at police
headquarters said the prosecutors
have grouped the 21 officers at the
scene in three categories: the four
already indicted, the rookie officers
and the other veteran officers who
were pystanders.
Prosecutors believe that the
rookie officers may be the least
liable, particularly since they are
probationary employees. Further,
several sources at the Los Angeles
Police Protective League, ·the po- ·
.lice union, said some of the rookie
officers were genuinely troubled
by what they saw that night.
· "One of the kids said he asked
one of officers, 'Did you have to hit
him that many times? Was it really
necessary?' " a league official said.
"Another one of them made the
"statement, 'It was horrible.' "
"It was a shocking experience
.for them," the union official added.
41
If you interviewed those rookie
officers and asked them if they still
would have joined the Police Department
if they thought anything
like this was going to happen, the
answer would be 'No.' "
The LAPD Files
New police documents obtained
by The Times show that after the
beating, investigators used a
search warrant to look through the
lockers of the four officers charged
with assault. The lockers are .at the
Foothill Division police station, and
sources said investigators were
checking for signs of blood on the
officers' batons and boots.
It wa8 unclear from the records
what was found in the lockers.
In another document, Rodney
King told investigators that he
believed he was handcuffed and
hogtied before he was beaten, a
scenario that contradicts what is
seen on a videotape of the incident
shot by an amateur cameraman.
In describing the beating, police
investigators wrote:
"Victim [King] felt a slight shock
to his right shoulder apd was
struck on the right side of his face
with -a billy club. Victim felt a
second shock on his left shoulder
blade. Victim stated he could not
see who was hitting 1iim. Victim
was struck numerous t.ililes about ·
the head and body area. ·
"Victim stated from the time he
exited the vehicle he did not resist
or attempt to flee from officers.''
The Police Commission
Moving t9 fill the last vacancy on
the civilian Police Commission,
Mayor Bradley appointed Los Angeles
criminal defense attorney
Michael Yamaki. Calling himself a
"supporter of the Police Department,"
Yamaki said one of his
primary objectives is to increase
police recruiting of Asian-4Jnerican.
.
The commission met Tuesday,
but before the session could get
started, about 100 people in the
audience jumped to their feet and
booed when two men tried to
replace a brown cloth covering the
commissioners' table with a blue
one. .
As the crowd screamed "Gates
must go! Gates must go!" Danny
. Bakewell, president of the Brotherhood
Crusade, a Los Angeles
. community group, rushed onto the
stage of the Parker Center auditorium
and tried to roll up the cloth.
' Bakewell was instantly surrounded
by six police officers who
briefly scuffled with him over the·
-cloth. The audience shouted "No
·blue! No blue!" and threw wadded
paper at the stage. .