officers - The Black Vault

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Aindictment-React, 1st Ld-Writethru
'Justice,' 'Overkill': Reactions Vary on King Beating Indictment£
E,ds: -~INCLUDES materal from stot"Y slugged Indictmen·t-ACLU; ADDS comments
from Daryl Gates, Diane Watson, Brotherhood Crusade, African American Peace
Officer Association. Not ."Officer'' is singular in latter org~nization's
"'am e.
LOS ANGELES - Indictments handed down today against four LAPD
officers in the Rodney King beating offer a ''hope for justice'' --or are
''overkill'' --spokesmen on both sides of the issue said.
''I think it's overkill,'' former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates
told radio station KFI-AM. ''I think no other individuals would be put to
this kind of test, but police officers ar~ being put to it, and I think
it's tt"agic"''
''The acquittal of the four officers on all but one of the original
state charges raised the specter of the revival of justice reminiscent of
the Deep South in the 1950s and 1960s in the Southern California of 1992,''
said a statement issued by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern
California.
''This responsible action by the office of U.S. Attorney Lourdes G.
Baird restores the hope for justice in this tragic episode,'' the ACLU
statement said.
Officers Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, and Theodore Briseno and Sgt.
Stacey Koon were named in indictments charging them with violating the
civil rights of King, a black motorist who was pulled over and beaten March
3, 1991, following a high-speed chase on freeways and surface streets in
the San Fernando Valley.
The four, all white men, were acquitted of assault and other charges in
state court, although Powell will be re-tried on one assault count. The
April verdicts touched off three days of rioting in Los Angeles County.
People ''should be encouraged by this to leave justice to the system and
not take justice into their own hands,'' said state Sen. Diane Watson, D­
Los Angeles, a candidate for county supervisor.
''Community leaders kept the pressure on to make the system look at the
evidence,'' Watson said. ''These indictments are vindication for those of
us who insisted justice would eventually be done.''
Danny Bakewell, leader of a black equal-rights group called Brotherhood
Crusade, said the indictments were welcome, if ''slow in coming'' --but
not enough in themselves.
''We're hoping these indictments will result in convictions,'' Bakewell
said. ''It's not eno•.tgh to indict someone -- I hope we' t"e not just
participating in a dog-and-pony show.''
And, in a memo released today, the African American Peace Officer
Association said the indictments ''symbolize a healing'' to victims of
police bt"utality.
The association called on the U.S. Attorney's office to investigate
other cases of alleged police excessive force to ''restore the American
people's faith in their criminal justice system.''
City News Service 16:08 8/5/1992
b6
AUG 1·· 1992
FBI -
LOS ANGELES
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