Local News in Brief : No Ruling Issued in Videotaped Arrest

A judge declined Thursday to issue a ruling that defense lawyers had hoped would lead to dismissal of a charge of resisting arrest against a black activist, whose confrontation with a Long Beach police officer was videotaped by an NBC television crew.

Long Beach Municipal Judge Gary R. Hahn refused to find that Don Jackson’s constitutional rights were violated when police officers pulled over the car in which he was riding Jan. 14. The videotape appears to show a white police officer pushing Jackson’s head through a plate-glass window.

Hahn said that matter can be brought up at Jackson’s trial, scheduled to start March 15.

Jackson’s attorneys said that if the judge had ruled in their favor, the misdemeanor charge would have to be dropped.

At the pretrial hearing, Long Beach city prosecutors disclosed they are trying to obtain Jackson’s personnel records from the Hawthorne Police Department. Jackson, a police sergeant, is on administrative leave. Jackson’s attorney, Hugh Manes, said the attempt is “a ploy to intimidate and discredit” his client.