Local News in Brief : D.A. to Investigate Videotaped Arrest

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office will conduct a full-fledged investigation of a videotaped incident in Long Beach last weekend in which a white police officer appeared to push a black man’s face through a plate-glass window, a spokesman said Friday.

The investigation is “basically to see if any crime was committed, (whether) the officer used excessive force in detaining (Don) Jackson,” spokesman Al Albergate said.

Officer Mark Dickey shouted obscenity-laden orders as he arrested Jackson, who had balked at submitting to a search for weapons during a routine traffic stop on Pacific Coast Highway last Saturday night. The incident was secretly recorded by NBC cameras. Jackson, a Hawthorne police sergeant on disability leave, has conducted a series of “stings” that he says are designed to demonstrate police mistreatment of minorities.

The county prosecutor’s office agreed to make a preliminary investigation earlier this week at the request of Hawthorne officials. The FBI is also investigating the incident.

Meanwhile, the Long Beach Police Department and the Long Beach Police Officers Assn. have re-created the scene on videotape, as told from the officer’s standpoint. Association President Mike Tracy said the tape could be used as part of an internal police investigation and as a public relations tool to counter the NBC tape.