Beating Case Considered by Grand Jury : Police: The county panel watches the videotape. At least three witnesses testify, including a Highway Patrol officer involved in the pursuit.

With a crush of reporters and TV cameras gathered outside closed doors, the Los Angeles County grand jury Monday began hearing testimony about the controversial police beating of an Altadena man.

The 23-member citizens panel, which may hand down indictments by the end of this week, heard testimony for about two hours Monday afternoon. There were at least three witnesses: George Holliday, the amateur photographer who videotaped the beating; Josie Morales, a neighbor who witnessed it, and Melanie Singer, a California Highway Patrol officer who was involved in the original pursuit of motorist Rodney G. King early March 3.

Holliday--who like the others was ushered through a rear door to avoid reporters--said he also saw a second officer waiting to testify. Holliday said he was the first to give his account. He said his testimony included answering questions from a prosecutor and grand jury members and lasted about 30 minutes.

“It was real quick,” he said.

According to authorities, King was pulled over after a chase that reached in excess of 100 m.p.h. on the Foothill Freeway. Los Angeles police became involved after King drove his car onto surface streets. Authorities have said that at that point, King was driving up to 80 m.p.h. and running red lights.

Law enforcement officials who have heard police radio communications of the chase said King was traveling at a top speed of 65 m.p.h on the surface streets and that he stopped at least once at either a red light or a stop sign.

During the next few days, prosecutors from the district attorney’s office will attempt to reconstruct the pursuit and beating, in which King was struck between 53 and 56 times with the officers’ batons. The incident has brought national notoriety to the Police Department, as well as calls for Chief Daryl F. Gates to resign.

Gates has recommended prosecution of three of 15 officers who were at the scene when King was beaten. District attorney’s officials, saying they believed that more officers could be charged, decided to present the case to the grand jury instead.

By law, the grand jury conducts its business in secret, and the prosecutor running the proceedings, Deputy Dist. Atty. Terry White, declined comment Monday.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Curt Livesay said last week that the panelists would likely begin their work by viewing the videotape of the beating. At 8:15 a.m. Monday, a television and videocassette recorder were wheeled into the meeting room on the 13th floor of the Los Angeles Criminal Courts Building. Holliday said the tape was aired during his testimony in the afternoon.

Sources familiar with the proceedings say that prosecutors expect to call fewer than 20 witnesses, and that King will not be among them. According to one source, prosecutors are not eager to have King testify because he might provide contradictory statements that could damage the case when it goes to trial.

King’s lawyer, Robert Rentzer, said he received a letter from prosecutors telling him that King would be excused from testimony because of his medical condition.

King suffered a variety of injuries as a result of the beating after he was stopped by police in Lake View Terrace in the San Fernando Valley. The 25-year-old unemployed construction worker, who is on parole after serving a one-year prison sentence for robbery, was stunned with a dart from an electric Taser gun before being kicked and hit repeatedly.

King’s doctor has said preliminary tests show he may have sustained permanent brain damage from repeated blows to the head and that he is suffering from confusion and memory lapse. In addition, Dr. Edmund Chein said the bones in King’s right eye socket were fractured beyond repair.

A Police Department investigation into the incident showed that three officers participated in the beating while 12 more--including a sergeant--watched and did nothing.

Law enforcement officials, including prosecutors and police, have already said that the officers who participated in the beating could face charges of assault with a deadly weapon, or assault “under color of authority.”

It is not clear whether prosecutors will be able to seek indictments against the officers who watched. Sources involved in the grand jury proceedings said those officers may have committed federal civil rights violations. King is black; the officers are white.

In related developments, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California--which has been extremely critical of Gates--announced a “multilevel campaign” to seek the chief’s ouster. The campaign began today with a full-page paid advertisement in the Los Angeles Times under the headline, “Who Do You Call When the Gang Wears Blue Uniforms?”

The ad will appear in seven local newspapers--including Daily Variety, Los Angeles Sentinel and Jewish Journal--at a cost to the ACLU of about $65,000. It includes a letter, calling on Gates to step down, which readers are asked to clip out, sign and send to the ACLU for delivery to the chief.

“It’s an opportunity for people who feel strongly about this to become part of a movement to have him resign,” said ACLU executive director Ramona Ripston.

In Washington, members of the Congressional Black Caucus announced that they plan to meet today with FBI Director William Sessions to “seek reassurances” that the officers involved in the case will be punished.

Prosecutors hope that by presenting their case to the county grand jury they can proceed quickly to trial. A law passed by California voters last year allows prosecutors to bypass preliminary hearings--which can last weeks or months--by taking their cases to grand juries for indictments.

The grand jury is a citizens panel that meets to investigate criminal cases and recommend ways to improve county-run programs, such as foster care and jails.

Times staff writers Leslie Berger and Lois Timnick contributed to this story.