O.C. Police Criticize Violent Arrest; Some Speculate on How It Occurred

At first glimpse, Fullerton Police Sgt. Glenn Deveney figured he was watching news footage of the Iraqi uprising.

“I didn’t have the sound turned up on my television set, and I thought I was seeing scenes from the war’s aftermath,” Deveney said.

But Deveney actually was watching a videotape of Los Angeles Police Department officers pummeling a black man as he lay on the pavement. The video, filmed early Sunday by an onlooker from his balcony, has created a furor among Los Angeles citizens and caused considerable embarrassment to that city’s Police Department.

Several Orange County police officials expressed shock Friday over the incident and said they were concerned that the inflammatory videotape could unfairly cast a poor light on all officers.

“It will take years for law enforcement to recover from this,” said Garden Grove Police Chief John Robertson. “A lot of police officers put their lives out on the line every day, and it undermines their credibility.

“This is one where you hang your head down and say, ‘Geez, people are going to think I’m like that too.’ ”

Tustin Police Chief W. Douglas Frank concurred: “It’s an isolated incident, but it tarnishes the badge of all officers.”

According to Los Angeles police, the violent arrest occurred after a high-speed chase in the San Fernando Valley. Rodney G. King, 25, recently paroled after serving a one-year prison sentence for robbery, was repeatedly hit with nightsticks and kicked by officers while as many as 11 other officers stood by.

“When I saw the subject doubled over on the ground and two officers beating on the guy, I couldn’t believe it,” said Tustin Traffic Officer Ed Ellett. “I saw no aggressiveness, no situation where this person was trying to flee. You do have the right to use force to subdue someone, but once that threat is gone, you back off.”

“The use of their feet--that’s what literally appalled me,” Deveney said. “The foot is an obnoxious weapon. There is no justification for a police officer to kick a suspect except in life-and-death situations. I thought, ‘These people have lost control.’ ”

“They should have gone in, cuffed him, arrested him and gotten out of there,” said Buena Park Police Sgt. Terry Branum.

As an officer who has been involved in many high-speed chases, Ellett said that he “can understand but can’t condone what happened.”

“Outside of going into an armed robbery with shots being fired at you, a high-speed chase is probably the most dangerous thing you can do,” Ellett said. “Your adrenaline gets going, you get real pumped up. And you’re still pumped up when you finally pull the guy over and get out of your car. You have to make a conscious effort to downshift, so to speak, and to maintain control.”

Tustin Police Chief Franks said that most departments, his included, routinely assign a sergeant or lieutenant to monitor the conclusion of high-speed chases.

“You send a supervisor to the scene specifically to ensure that the adrenaline that flows after the pursuit does not manifest itself in brutality,” Franks said. “What I don’t understand (about the LAPD incident) is that a supervisor just stood by and let it happen.”

“We need to find escape valves to release the massive amount of pressure that has built up when the high-speed chase terminates,” said Garden Grove Police Chief Robertson. “Perhaps there is some psychological triggering we could teach so that the officer can slow down before exiting the vehicle.”

Other lessons, as well, could be learned from the videotape, Robertson added. “When there is documentation of police brutality, we try to make sure that our people see it. The vast number of our officers were offended and upset by the video,” he said.

“We’ve discussed with them how this could have happened and how it could have been prevented,” Robertson said. “We’ve asked the question, ‘Say an officer you were with made a mistake and got abusive--what would your reaction be?’ ”

Tustin Chief Franks said his department has also distributed copies of the video. “We’ve made it a point to show this video at all our meetings. We’ve discussed it at length with all of our patrol officers. It’s a useful training tool.”

Some officers said they are hearing about the videotape when they deal with the public.

“People keep asking me, ‘What do you think of it?’ ” Ellett said. “But I think anyone with any kind of sense realizes that these individuals do not represent all police officers. Some people, though, who already didn’t like the police, will use this to say, ‘See!’ ”

Santa Ana Police Chief Paul M. Walters expressed sympathy for his counterpart in Los Angeles. “I have the highest respect for Chief (Daryl F.) Gates and his agency,” Walters said. “My son just graduated from the Los Angeles Police Academy, and I know the police officers are not taught that this (beating a defenseless suspect) is appropriate behavior.”

Walters speculated that the officers involved in the controversial incident could have been victims of “battle fatigue.”

“The constant exposure to trauma leads to post-traumatic stress that affects the way you operate,” he said. “There are so many guns in American society that even a routine car stop is dangerous for a police officer.”

The LAPD officers, Walters said, deserve their day in court. “When officers do something incorrectly, public sentiment pushes things along too quickly. But these officers have a right to a fair trial,” he said.

Times staff writer Ted Johnson contributed to this report.