officers - The Black Vault

FD·350,J_IJ_ev. ~-8·81)
..,.. _,..,....,..-
•(Indicate page, name of
newspaper, city and state.)
GEORGE F. WILL
(Mount Clipping in Space Below)
Daryl Gates ~~~
the Cops' Ow*
Worst Enem)i;~.
• J"D"
..
• His tolerance of failure in tbe
ranks translates as a politicai~-
· failure; who wants to pay for~· ···
·. this brand of crime-fighting?:~
; Try this. Slam a sofa cushion wjth a,
r baseball bat. Now do it 55 more times.
Is your arm weary? ,.
Three Los Angeles officers shared the
· labor of administering to their victijn at
least 56 blows with clubs, hard enough to
cause fillings to fly from his teeth, fr~turing
his eye socket, smashing his ~heek
bone, causing a skull concussion and'tacial
nerve .damage and breaking a leg. He also
suffered burns from a stun gun and damage
to internal organs. He will never,:fully
recover and may have brain damage .. t
Daryl Gates, the Los Angeles police
chief, says he is distressed. What distresses
others is the fact that he is still .~hief.
Apparently the principle of accoun~bility,
never strong in American governmeiil., has
become attenuated to the point of wsappearance.
'"
Gates can be called the Eight-MHlion­
Dollar Man. Just in the last year that sum
has been awarded to victims ot Los
Angeles police misconduct. There will be
two commas in the sum awarded to the
man whose savage beating by some of.
Gates' men was recorded by a citizen with
. a video camera. ::
. After almost committing homicide, but
. before they knew they had been f,ijmed,.
·Gates' officers compounded their crill!.inality
by filing a report filled with lies;~hey
said the victim had been driving 115 '1n.p.h.
'in his Hyundai. The manufacturer: says
that car can't go that fast. The oflicers
wrote that they used force to stop the ·
;victim from fighting. Witnesses a~l:l: the
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