Undercover Black Allegedly Beaten by Officer in Lockup

A Los Angeles police internal affairs investigator--who was handcuffed and posing as a narcotics suspect--was allegedly beaten last week at the Southeast Division station by a veteran officer who was unaware of the investigator’s true identity, The Times has learned.

The incident has prompted an internal affairs investigation and has resulted in the removal from field duty of the accused officer, identified by sources as Michael L. Sillers, a 16-year veteran of the force.

The alleged striking of the handcuffed undercover officer, which occurred Feb. 3, was the second since mid-December in which an undercover black officer was allegedly assaulted by a white patrolman.

Department authorities refused Thursday to discuss what happened at the Southeast station.

“Ten days or so ago, there was an incident: one officer struck another and we are investigating it,” said department spokesman Cmdr. William Booth. “At the conclusion of the investigation, we’ll make a determination about what will be presented to the district attorney for (possible) prosecution and what will be done as far as proper administrative action.”

According to sources, two young black officers on loan to the Internal Affairs Division had been sent into the Southeast station on an undercover assignment to investigate a tip that jail personnel at the station were possibly involved in the theft of prisoners’ property.

The officers, posing as narcotics dealers who had been arrested, were handcuffed to a bench on the second floor of the station house when Sillers walked by, sources said. One of the undercover officers, whose identity could not be learned Thursday, asked Sillers, 36, for a cigarette. When Sillers declined the request, the undercover officer swore at him--a gesture intended to make the officer’s portrayal as a criminal seem more convincing.

Sillers then struck him an undetermined number of times, sources said.

One source said the undercover officer required medical attention. However, Capt. Valentino Paniccia of the Southeast station indicated that the officer was not injured.

“It wasn’t as serious as all that,” Paniccia said without elaborating. “There was nobody hurt.”

In the December incident, undercover vice officer Glen E. Younger from Central Division was injured after he was questioned by two uniformed officers from neighboring Newton Division, Nicholas C. Sinibaldi and John B. Wilson.

Sources said Younger was patrolling for prostitutes just east of downtown when the Newton officers, believing him to be a citizen acting suspiciously, stopped him and ordered him out of his unmarked car. Younger, who is black, identified himself as a police officer but still was commanded to put his hands against a wall. Profanities were exchanged.

“The next thing he knew, (Younger) was hit on the head, knocked to the ground, kicked and handcuffed,” a Central officer told The Times shortly after the incident. Younger was treated at a hospital for cuts and a sore shoulder, and missed at least two days of work.

Booth said the department’s investigation of that incident has concluded. A decision on whether to take disciplinary action against the Newton Division officers should be reached within the next two weeks, Booth said.

Veteran black officers Thursday described the Younger and Southeast Division incidents as rare and said race relations among Police Department officers, although far from perfect, are hardly at a breaking point.

“The thing that you’ve got to worry about,” said one black detective, “is what happens on the street to the citizens when a cop comes along.