Charges dropped against six USC students, attorney says

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office dropped misdemeanor charges against six USC students arrested after an off-campus house party, the students’ attorney said Thursday.

[Updated at 5:25 p.m. May 30: The Los Angeles city attorney’s office said it has not dropped charges against the six USC students and said no decisions have been made about the case.]

Students contend Los Angeles Police Department officers showed racial bias and used heavy-handed tactics when they shut down a party attended by mostly African American students earlier this month.

Police said they were responding to a noise complaint and the situation escalated when a partygoer threw a bottle. Students denied throwing anything.

The incident garnered media attention after partygoers posted videos and photos of dozens of police officers donning riot gear and escorting students out of a house party.

“The best thing that has happened is technology and videotaping,” said attorney Fred Dorton, who represented the students. “The video doesn’t lie.”

Dorton said the students were scheduled to be arraigned Thursday on misdemeanor charges, but the city attorney did not file them. He said most of the charges were related to what police said was a “failure to disperse.”

The attorney said four of the six students were more than a half-mile away from the party when they were arrested.

LAPD officials have opened an internal investigation into the incident, and the inspector general’s office said earlier this month that it is evaluating all formal complaints.

Dorton said his clients were “elated” the charges were behind them, but some were still worried about getting extensions for their final exams.

“That continues to be stressful,” Dorton said.

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