34 Policemen Disciplined for Violent Anti-Gang Raid : 9 Could Be Fired After Tribunals

Thirty-four Los Angeles police officers are being disciplined for their involvement in an anti-gang raid last August during which a police task force allegedly ransacked apartments and roughed up residents in Southwest Los Angeles, authorities said today.

The officers implicated in the case--the largest number ever disciplined at one time as a result of an internal Los Angeles Police Department probe--were accused of violating various department regulations ranging from lying to investigators to damaging personal property.

Nine officers are to appear before department tribunals and could ultimately be fired or handed long-term suspensions without pay. Twenty-five others have agreed to accept shorter suspensions, also without pay, police officials said.

Three other officers have received letters of reprimand in their permanent files. Another officer implicated in the case was fired for a non-related offense that occurred during the investigation, according to Cmdr. William Booth, a police spokesman.

None of the officers was identified publicly.

4 Residences Targeted

Four residences in the 3900 block of Dalton Avenue were targeted by police last year after a series of gang-related, drive-by shootings in the neighborhood just west of the Coliseum.

Officers ostensibly were searching for illegal drugs and obtained a search warrant. But during the Aug. 1 search, they allegedly smashed plaster walls, slashed furniture with knives, sledgehammered toilets and sinks and hacked apart stereos.

Thirty-three people were taken into custody. One was arrested on suspicion of possession of cocaine and seven on suspicion of conspiracy to sell the drug; the others were released without charges. One-quarter gram of rock cocaine was recovered during the raid.

About 40 residents of the neighborhood and others who say they were roughed up that night by officers subsequently filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, contending that their civil rights were violated.

They have alleged that they were hit and kicked and that some of the officers spray-painted apartment walls with anti-gang slogans that read, “LAPD rules,” “Rolling 30s die,” (a reference to a Crips gang), and “Opie Dog rules” (a possible reference to a police officer’s nickname).

The lawsuit alleges that some of those arrested were taken to the Southwest station, ordered to whistle the theme from the old “Andy Griffith” television show and made to run through a gantlet of officers. Those who couldn’t or wouldn’t whistle allegedly were punched and had steel flashlights dropped on their heads.