officers - The Black Vault

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(Mount Cfipplng In Space Below)
Pressure mountfn.;:.!.....g
'Pȯ 1•1c_e_. ch 1•ef to quit
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(Indicate page, mme or
newspaper, city and alate.)
P. A 3
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
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Tltle:ji3Bf!SSURE MOUNTING FOR
LA POLICE CHIEF TO QUIT
By Jeff Wilson
Associated Press Character. CIVIL RIGHTS
or
·LOS ANGELES - Police Chief Daryl Gates
·was under mounting pressure Tuesday to
resign as a grand jury heard testimony to
support indictments against officers whose
beating of a motorist was captured on home
video. .
:rhe 23-member citizens panel, which could
hand .down indictments as .early as this
week, began a second day of closed-door
hearings in the case of Rodney G. King, the
victim of the bone-shattering, March 3 beat·
ing. .
The grand jury already heard testimony
fFom George Holliday, who shot the video,
witness Josie Morales and California Highway
Patrol Officer Melanie Singer, who was contract renewals every five years for all
involved in the King pursuit, the Los Ange- city department heads and general managles
Times reported.
ers.
There was no indication of the extent of The American Civil Liberties Union took
tlie evidence given to. the county grand jury, out a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times
which conducts its proceedings in total se- with a photograph of a baton-wielding officer
-g-g~y.__ _ __.,:- and the headline, "Who do you call when the
Authorities said King, 25, was stopped af- gang wears blue uniforms?"
ter a 100 mph-plus CHP chase on the Foothill The advertisement featured a return cou-
Freeway. Police joined in the pursuit after pan urging Gates to resign.
~ing left the freeway and began running red "In the interest ?f the. city and the Pol~ce
lights through the Lake View Terrace area Department, the time has come for Police
officers said. · . '. Chief Daryl Gates to resign," the ACLU said.
. What followed was a brutal beating by "Join in demanding the resignation of Chief
police officers using batons and an electric Daryl Gates. We need your help to convince
·stun gun, an incident that horrified televi- him." ·
sian viewers worldwide and blackened the The ACLU said it was part of a "multilevel
eye of the 8,300-officer Police Department. c3:mpaign" to seek the chief's ouster. The ad
. Calls for Gates to resign have been build- will appear in seven local newspapers, ining
since Holliday's video began showing on eluding paily Variety, Los Angeles Sentinel
television networks, including CNN. Theca- and Jew1sh Journal, at a cost to the ACLU of
ble network, ·with its global rea~h. still runs $65,000. "It's an oppor_tunity for people who
the stunning tape at any development in the feel strongly about th1s to become part of a
case.
movement to have him resign," said ACLU
Gates labeled the beating "an aberration" executive director Ramona Ripston.
· and said he will not resign. An amendment
to the City Charter, f'IXing a term of offic~::
would be necessary to change the lifetime:
tenure of the police chief.
• Ip a letter to the City Council on Tuesday,
.Mayor Tom Bradley urged the council to
draw up a June ballot referendum requiring
C1aaslllcatlon: 80-3 J B
Submitting Office: IDs Angeles
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