officers - The Black Vault

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Inside the. stations~~officers· .huddlecf'quietiy iQ. under iilveStigatfon.- 41 The onlfthlng i can say is I'm
roll-call conference rooms and watched as the pro- breathless," said one of the officers who still faces
ceedings unfolded on television. . .
At the Harbor Division in San Pedro, some o£fi~ers
~ossible disciplinary action, his voice trembling with
emotion. He declined to be identified because he is
seemed shocked by the verdicts-:-until th'e last minute, about to face an internal police hearing for his role in
a guilty ver~ct had seemed ineyitable. But Sgt. Da,nn! · . the king incident. .
Contreras sa1d he was not surpnsed. · ·o· 1':1 hill ff' a1 d di · r d s · h
"I felt they were innocent," Contreras said. "Watch- · '- ne ~oot o 1cer_ . rea Y sc1p me .w~ m1t •
ing the video, listening to the testimony .~ .. . .and ~ho _was. on the ~e;,elV1ng end of P?well s mfan:ous
hearing what the defendants said in court," Contreras Gorillas m th~ M1st computer message. She recetved
said, persuaded him that the beating was a Violent, but' a five-day suspension. "I don't know if Vindication is a
unavoidable, incident. . . good word," she said. "I feel the truth came out arid
"If you are not there" in the streets, Contreras said, that the verdicts are a reflection of the truth."
"it's very hard to visualize what happens:" . · ·
Not everyone, however, was pleased with the . Much ·has changed at Foothill since the beating,
verdicts. Harbor Division Chief Timothy King seemed which transpired just two miles from the station:
visibly upset after hearing the court clerk read the last A used sofa, soine magazines and a fish tank now adorn
"not guilty."
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"I hate second-guessing people, but doggone it, I do the front lobby, an attemp~ to make the otherwi$fil
not like what I saw on that video," said King, who .grim .building J'!lOre friendly. Faces of color' are mor~
before taking over the Harbor Division was charged common arounli the office, once a bastion of w.hit~
with launching the Internal Affairs investigation of . officers.
the King beating. "And I haven't heard any police On Wednesday, as a crowd of protesters gathered
officer say that what they saw was good and proper." outside the station to protest the verdict, a Latino and
At the Foothill Division, the scene was as it was a black officer became involved in an impromptu
more than a year ago, when the chaotic, black-and- debate. Sgt. Jo~ Najera supported the jury's decision;
white images of the King beating were first broadcast but Sgt. Mike Brox, who is black, did not. After some
around the world. Once again, officers watched as finger-pointing -lind :r~seq ypices, they. agreed to
video cameras caught their colleagues in the spotlight ·
o f h 1story. . . disagree'. · · .
Laurence M. Powell, Stacey C. Koon, Timothy E. '"There's no question 'in~ my mind that that (the
Wind and Theodore J. Briseno-they are .familiar. beating) was excessive,'' Broxsaid. "It.llJ.ut me to
naines at the station. The officersworked there until_ a know tha~ our j\li!Uce system co~d not seethere was
steady-handed amateur cameraman landed all four m . excessive force." 1
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police purgatory. · · ··· - ' ' ' • ··
A host of other Foothill officers· who stood by and
·watched th~ l?.,~~~~~ tl!~t J~tefuJ evening are still