Defense Paints Jackson as Paranoid and Racist
Defense attorneys for two Long Beach police officers accused of abusing activist Don Jackson attempted Monday to portray Jackson as a paranoid, racist black man whose mistrust of white people made him dangerous to himself and others.
When Jackson arrived in Long Beach two years ago to conduct a sting on the city’s Police Department, he was “so inbred with his hatred of whites that he would do anything, even lie about what happened,” attorney Al Ramsey said after Jackson’s first day of cross-examination in Long Beach Municipal Court.
Ramsey represents former police Officer Mark Dickey who, on Jan. 14, 1989, stopped Jackson’s beat-up sedan on Pacific Coast Highway for an alleged traffic violation. While an NBC camera crew secretly videotaped the encounter, Dickey appeared to push Jackson through a plate-glass window.
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