Chief Gates Should Quit, Sen. Biden Says

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr., who lavished praise on Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates at a hearing last year, called Sunday for his resignation because of the videotaped beating of a motorist by LAPD officers.

“I think the guy should go,” the Delaware Democrat said on the NBC program “Meet the Press.” Biden appeared with Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh, who declined to voice an opinion.

“I think it would be somewhat officious of me to be giving passing or failing grades to local officials,” Thornburgh said.

At the hearing last year, Biden commended Gates for his DARE anti-drug program, which has been widely copied by other police agencies. In testimony at the time, Gates said that even casual drug users should be shot--a remark that caused wide controversy.

Separately, the Dallas Morning News on Sunday reported that Texas had 2,015 investigations of alleged police brutality between 1984 and 1989, followed by California with 1,294 investigations.

The newspaper cited figures from records obtained from the U.S. Justice Department under the Freedom of Information Act.

The records did not include the number of convictions resulting from these investigations.

The newspaper also reported that Texas led the nation in prosecuting 50 civil rights cases against police between 1980 and 1989, accounting for 19.2% of the nationwide total.

On “Meet the Press,” Thornburgh was asked whether a federal civil rights investigation is likely to produce additional charges against the four Los Angeles police officers who have been indicted by a county grand jury in the March 3 beating of Rodney G. King, 25, of Altadena. The incident in Lake View Terrace was videotaped by an amateur photographer and subsequently broadcast worldwide.

The attorney general said that “the outcome of an investigation is difficult to predict at the time that it’s undertaken.” He added, however, that “there isn’t a single responsible law enforcement official in this country who condones police brutality.”

Thornburgh also was asked if he thought the federal government should take action against the policemen who witnessed the beating but did nothing to stop it.

“Well, that’s an iffy question and it’s very risky to anticipate what the results of the investigation might be,” he said. “We’ve got to look to the rights of potential defendants, and I really can’t comment on that.”

In response to the same question, Biden at first said: “I can’t make any judgment on that.” But a moment later he declared: “I don’t know how in the devil they aren’t responsible for standing by and watching this thing take place. I don’t know how they can step away from any responsibility.”

The senator said his committee plans a hearing on the incident after completion of the attorney general’s investigation into whether the civil rights of King, a black man, were violated by the officers, who are white.