Youth Agreed to Aid Investigation, Police Tape Shows

A Van Nuys teen-ager who says he was falsely arrested last year during the investigation of the killing of a Grant High School teacher agreed to talk to police and waived his right to an attorney, according to a tape recording of his police interview played Thursday before a federal court jury.

“I would be more than willing to help you guys in any way,” Hai Waknine, then 16, said in the interview with two Los Angeles police detectives, which was taped March 24, 1989.

Waknine is suing four police officers in U.S. District Court, seeking $10 million in damages and charging that they violated his constitutional rights against unreasonable search and seizure. The officers kept Waknine in custody for seven hours the day teacher Hal Arthur was shot to death as he left his Sherman Oaks house for school. They also searched Waknine’s car and house.

Police said they were led to Waknine by information from students and school records that indicated he could have been involved in the slaying. He was eliminated as a suspect during the time he was with detectives. Police have maintained that he was never under arrest and had cooperated willingly to clear his name. Arthur’s slaying remains unsolved.

Waknine testified during the three-day trial that he never consented to the searches that occurred after police stopped him while he was driving. He said he was not advised of his rights until after the searches and after he was taken to the police station in Van Nuys. Waknine, now 18, also testified that he felt he was under the control of the officers and would be unable to leave the station if he wanted to.

But on Thursday the police officers, represented by Assistant City Atty. Philip J. Sugar, introduced their key piece of evidence: a secretly taped recording of Waknine’s interview with police.

According to the tape, Detective Mel Arnold began the interview by stating to Waknine, “You know, you are not under arrest.”

“I know,” the boy replied.

When Arnold later told Waknine of his constitutional rights to an attorney or to remain silent, Waknine said he understood but wanted to talk to the officers.

“I don’t need them right now,” Waknine said of his rights.

The tape recording was the last piece of evidence introduced in the trial. During his closing argument, Waknine’s attorney, Stephen Yagman, said that his client’s admissions of cooperation on the tape were coerced. He said Waknine was too young to fully understand his rights and was only trying to please the police officers so they would let him go home.

Yagman said that despite the officers’ statements that Waknine was not under arrest, their actions constituted an arrest for which they did not have probable cause.

In his closing argument, Sugar said the officers--Arnold, Tom Cuillard, Raymond Bennett and Blair Eckert--acted reasonably and properly. The jury is scheduled to begin deliberating a verdict today.