Was Assured of No Punitive Action in Battering Ram Incident, Officer Says : Vandalism case: His commanding officer made the promise before he led him to a key piece of evidence, he testifies at a hearing about the raid on apartments.

A Los Angeles police officer who faces criminal charges in the so-called “39th and Dalton” incident testified Thursday that his commanding officer assured him that no punitive action would be taken against him before he led the commander to a key piece of evidence in the case that had been hidden in an underground storm drain.

Officer Charles Wilson also testified that he immediately recanted a lie that he originally told about the whereabouts of the homemade, red-painted battering ram because he did not want police Internal Affairs investigators to “take apart” his San Bernardino County home searching for it.

“I’ve seen what happens when police are doing a search. And I didn’t want that. . . . They overturn furniture, empty out cupboards and overturn bedclothes,” Wilson testified during the third day of a hearing to determine whether the ram can be admitted as evidence in the upcoming trial of the officer and three colleagues.

Wilson, however, acknowledged that the investigators never threatened to “tear apart” his house and said that neither they nor his commanding officer used the word order when addressing him.

Wilson’s lawyer, Paul R. DePasquale, is trying to show that his client was coerced into disclosing the ram’s hiding place and had been led to believe he was under orders to do so, or lose his job. Because of that, DePasquale contends, the ram was improperly seized and a jury should not be told of its existence.

Police Internal Affairs investigators have vehemently denied coercing Wilson or doing anything else improper. The investigators also deny that any deal was made with the officer.

Wilson’s testimony was the first time that any officer involved in the Aug. 1, 1988, raids on four apartments in the 3900 block of Dalton Avenue has spoken publicly about the case.

More than 80 officers were involved in the raids, during which the interiors and contents of the residences were all but demolished. The damage was so extensive, the Red Cross offered disaster aid to the homes’ occupants.

Prosecutors say the ram is the strongest evidence linking police officers to the damage.

Charges of vandalism and conspiracy to commit vandalism were eventually filed against Wilson, Capt. Thomas D. Elfmont, Sgt. Charles (Ted) Spicer and Officer Todd Parrick. Wilson was also charged with obstructing and delaying the police investigation into the incident by withholding the ram from investigators. The red paint from the ram allegedly was found on many of the destroyed items in two of the damaged apartments.

The prosecution believes Wilson made the ram in his garage and painted it red to intimidate members of the Crips street gang, some of whom were thought to live in the residences. The Crips’ “color” is blue. Red is the color of their archenemies, the Bloods.