4 L.A. Officers Face Vandalism Charges in Raid

Vandalism and conspiracy charges were filed Friday against a Los Angeles police captain, a sergeant and two officers in the sledge-hammer destruction last summer of four apartments that were being searched for drugs by nearly 80 officers.

The charges, all misdemeanors, were filed just four days before the statute of limitations was due to run out in the case and two days after former residents of the apartments and their lawyers held a protest march to demand that the criminal action be taken.

The attorneys said Friday that the action by Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner was “too little, too late” from an office that they described as having a “serious” conflict of interest with the Police Department.

Charged with conspiracy to commit vandalism and actual vandalism were Police Capt. Thomas D. Elfmont, former commander of the Southwest Division, Sgt. Charles Spicer and Officers Todd Parrick and Charles Wilson. Wilson also was charged with obstructing or delaying the investigation of the case.

Elfmont, who has already been demoted and been given a pay reduction, apparently as a result of the incident, was on vacation and could not be reached for comment. Spicer and the two officers also could not be reached.

The complaint filed Friday alleges that Elfmont told subordinates to “level” and “make uninhabitable” the targeted residences.

Elfmont told his officers at a roll call on July 27, 1988, that they had “carte blanche” to do what they wanted--with “bureau backing,” the complaint said. Elfmont allegedly concluded his remarks by saying, “What’s said in this room stays in this room.”

Captain Wasn’t Present

According to the criminal complaint, Elfmont was not present during the search of the apartments. He told a subordinate that he would attend, but then left the station for “personal reasons” before the end of his normal shift, according to the complaint.

As a result of Elfmont’s absence, no officer above the rank of sergeant was present during the raid--a violation of the Southwest Division’s own policy, the complaint said.

Sgt. Spicer, a patrol supervisor, was the highest-ranking officer at the scene. He had twice reiterated Elfmont’s exhortations to subordinates at roll calls. The complaint alleged that Spicer told the officers: “This is a Class-A search--that means carpets up, drywall down.”

The complaint also alleges that Wilson hid a battering ram used during the raid in a manhole. It was recovered nine days later 30 feet beneath the street.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Curt Livesay said arrangements were being made for the four charged officers to surrender. Their arraignment has tentatively been scheduled for Aug. 11. Each of the counts carries a maximum penalty of a year in County Jail and a $10,000 fine.

A Los Angeles Police Deparment spokesman would say only that the filings prove “the system is working as it is supposed to.”

‘Somebody Downtown Cares’

Livesay agreed that the charges show that “somebody downtown cares. . . . When we find officers who we believe have exceeded the minimum bounds of executing a warrant, we’re going to respond. We believe the officers here exceeded the bounds. And we’ve charged them with a crime.”

The filings were made so close to the day the statute of limitations runs out because “we wanted to make sure that we had as much evidence as we could to charge everybody we could,” Livesay said. He did not rule out the possibility that others still may be charged.

The district attorney’s office, he said, “had difficulty in proving individual conduct of given officers.”

“We saw the net result. But for the purposes of criminal law, we must prove beyond a reasonable doubt to 12 (jurors) . . . that there was an intent and an act on each individual defendant’s part.”

The handling of the case by the district attorney’s office, however, was soundly criticized by three of the 10 lawyers who represent the apartment residents and scores of young people who were arrested that night, some reportedly as far as two blocks away. A civil suit filed since alleges that many of those people were beaten and humiliated during a two-hour period before they were taken to a police station.

Damage to the apartments in two buildings in the 3900 block of Dalton Avenue just west of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was so severe that four families had to be given emergency shelter and food by the American Red Cross.

The stated purpose of the raids was narcotics. But of the 33 people taken into custody, only two teen-agers, neither of whom lived in the apartments and neither of whom was arrested there, were prosecuted for possession of drugs.

“To file these relatively unsubstantial charges is ridiculous,” said Gary Casselman, one of the attorneys involved. “As predicted, there have been no charges filed against officers or their supervisors for the obvious physical brutality and viciousness shown to approximately 35 individuals.”

Another of the lawyers, George V. Denny, said that the destruction caused in the apartments could not have been done by three or four officers.

“There were many more than these involved in destroying those apartments,” Denny said. “Thus, charging only four of them is too little and, at this 11th hour, too late.”

Attorney John Burton said “the little token charges” are a “knee-jerk reaction” to the protest march on Wednesday. He called the charges “an embarrassment to law enforcement.”

Call for Outside Review

The lawyers called for a civilian review board or some other independent panel to be set up to investigate charges of police misconduct.

Casselman said the district attorney’s office cannot police the Police Department, “apparently because they have to work with the police.”

Also criticizing the charges against the four officers were two women whose apartments were left in such bad shape that they had to find new quarters.

Every one of the 78 officers who took part in the raid should be charged, said Onie Palmer, who was away at night school when police arrived.

“If we do a crime, we have to do the time, and the same should be for them,” she said.

Last month, Police Chief Daryl F. Gates announced that 25 officers had agreed to accept administrative suspensions without pay for their part in the raid. Those officers had been found guilty by Gates of violations of department regulations ranging from lying to investigators to damaging property.