POLICE BRUTALITY

As some of you may know, on Wednesday, June 23, the Los Angeles police, after a 28 minute car chase, and a foot chase, beat with a flashlight and kicked 36 yr old Stanley Miller, while attempting to handcuff him. This event was video taped by a news helicopter, reminiscent of the 1992 beating of Rodney G, King. There are some major differences between these two events. In the Rodney King incident, King was clearly fighting with the police. In this latest incident, Mr. Miller was clearly on the ground surrendering to the officers.



But according to an editorial in today�s LA Times, its unlikely the officers will be charged criminally for their actions. As in the King beating, the officers were acquitted in the first trial, setting of several days of rioting and deaths. Only two of the officers were convicted later in federal court of violating Mr. King�s civil rights.



But these are only two of the many cases in LA where police have used unnecessary force and gotten away with it. Here is a list of case that the author of the editorial cited:

.

� Four LAPD officers charged in the videotaped beating of Rodney G. King in 1991 were acquitted in Superior Court, sparking massive urban riots. Two of the officers were convicted later in federal court of violating King's civil rights.



� Two Superior Court juries could not reach a unanimous verdict on murder charges against LAPD Officer Douglas Iversen, who was charged with shooting a tow-truck driver as he drove away from a gas station in 1992. The charges were dropped.



� State and federal authorities did not file charges against two Riverside County sheriff's deputies, Tracy Watson and Kurt Franklin, who were videotaped beating two Mexican immigrants with batons after a high-speed chase in 1996 that ended in El Monte.



� The federal case against Oxnard police Officer Robert Flinn, accused of beating an unarmed burglary suspect with a metal flashlight in 1996, ended with a deadlocked jury. Flinn was acquitted in Superior Court on some of the charges.



� Four Riverside police officers involved in the 1998 fatal shooting of Tyisha Miller, who had passed out in her car with a gun in her lap, were cleared of criminal wrongdoing by state and federal prosecutors.



� The Los Angeles County district attorney's office and the U.S. attorney's office did not file criminal charges against LAPD Officer Edward Larrigan, who killed a homeless, mentally ill woman who threatened officers with a screwdriver in 1999.



� LAPD Officer Tarriel Hopper fatally shot an actor after the man allegedly pointed a replica handgun at him during a Halloween party in 2000. The district attorney's office concluded that Hopper had acted in self-defense.



� Los Angeles prosecutors charged Inglewood Police Officer Jeremy Morse in the 2002 videotaped beating of a 16-year-old boy during an arrest at a gas station, but juries



It just shows how Inept the LA police dept really is.