LAPD Seeking to Fire 4 Linked to King Beating : Violence: Internal investigation reports give officers’ own accounts and show them defending their actions.

The four Los Angeles police officers indicted for criminal assault in the beating of Rodney G. King were notified Tuesday that the Police Department is seeking their dismissal for misconduct uncovered in a sweeping internal investigation begun after the incident last month.

The disciplinary charges against the three officers and one sergeant, outlined in Internal Affairs Division documents obtained by The Times, provide for the first time the officers’ own accounts of why they repeatedly beat and kicked King. In all, there are 11 separate allegations of misconduct.

The reports also include statements from many of the other officers who stood by during the March 3 incident and later told Internal Affairs investigators that they did not believe that their fellow officers were out of line for striking King with numerous baton blows and kicks.

Specifically, the LAPD is alleging that:

* Sgt. Stacey C. Koon, a 15-year Police Department veteran who was the highest-ranking officer at the scene, did not stop the “inappropriate use of force” on King by the other officers, did not initiate a personnel investigation into “serious misconduct at the scene” and failed to “accurately depict the details of the incident on his Sergeant’s Daily Report.”

* Officer Laurence M. Powell, who joined the department in 1987, unnecessarily struck King as many as 45 times with his baton, submitted an arrest report for King “which failed to accurately depict the details of the incident,” and improperly made racial comments on his police computer.

* Officer Timothy E. Wind, a rookie employee who joined the force in May, unnecessarily kicked King five times and struck him about 14 times with his baton, and submitted a false arrest report on King.

* Officer Theodore J. Briseno, a seven-year police veteran, unnecessarily kicked King once.

The LAPD documents also show that the department is continuing its internal investigation into the conduct of 17 other officers who arrived at the scene. The department is alleging that a number of “unknown officers, after becoming aware of misconduct, failed to intercede and take appropriate action.”

The four indicted officers, who were arraigned March 15 on felony assault charges, have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial next month. They have repeatedly declined to publicly discuss the case, as have the 17 other officers who were bystanders.

However, in the Internal Affairs documents, all four defended their actions and contended that an appropriate level of force was used against King.

Koon, according to the documents, said he “felt the use of the batons during the incident was exactly as directed by him and was reasonable and necessary.”

Powell said King did not comply with police orders when he got out of his car, and that King appeared to be either a “mental case or on PCP.”

Wind told investigators that during the incident he was “frightened because the baton strikes appeared to be having no effect” on King, and added that the suspect posed a threat to officers.

No comments were attributed to Briseno.

But the department, in describing the officers’ actions as “clearly excessive and unlawful,” said the evidence against them, including a dramatic videotape shot by an amateur cameraman, was “compelling and damning.”

The investigators added that because no officer at the scene reported any misconduct before the videotape surfaced, they either believed the force used on King was proper, or there is a “real code of silence” that exists among rank-and-file officers on the Los Angeles Police Department.

The department is recommending that Chief Daryl F. Gates order Koon, Powell and Briseno to attend Board of Rights hearings, an administrative trial. The officers must attend the hearings, and the only way to avoid the public sessions is to quit the department.

At the conclusion of the hearings, a panel of three police superiors will make a recommendation to Gates on whether the officers should be fired, suspended or exonerated. Gates, who as chief has sole power to levy punishment, can either accept or reduce the recommended punishment, but cannot increase it.

As a probationary officer, Wind is not entitled to a Board of Rights hearing because he has been on the department less than 18 months. The department is asking that Wind be fired outright.

King, a 25-year-old Altadena resident, was stopped after a police chase that ended in Lake View Terrace. After stepping out of his car, he was surrounded by officers, shot twice with a Taser electric stun gun, beaten and kicked, and finally placed in handcuffs and leg restraints. He was taken to a nearby hospital and treated for numerous head and body injuries, including a dozen bone fractures.

The officers said they believed he was under the influence of the drug PCP, but later test results show that while King had been drinking alcohol, there was no evidence of PCP.

A key allegation contained in the Internal Affairs reports centers on how many times King was struck and kicked by the officers.

Ned Camp, a nearby apartment complex resident who witnessed the beating from his balcony, said King did not stagger or appear intoxicated, despite the officers’ belief that King was resisting arrest and under the influence of PCP. Camp recalled that King was standing when Powell and Wind suddenly started “whacking on him.”

“Camp witnessed King being struck with batons on the head, back, stomach and ‘all over,’ including his legs 30 or more times,” the report stated. “Camp associated the sound of the batons striking King ‘like hitting a tree.’

“Camp stated that the officers grunted when they were swinging the batons,” the reports added. “He described the officers’ actions as ‘totally uncalled for.’ ”

Elois Camp described King as lying “in a fetal position trying to avoid the blows.” And Valerie Gray, who watched the assault from her balcony, saw an officer kick King in a “stomping motion.”

A fourth resident, Dorothy Shimes, said she saw Briseno stomping King and heard King pleading, “Please stop.” Shimes also said that after the beating ceased, she could hear the officers chuckling “as if they had just got through with a good party.”

The documents also show that police located several musicians who were on a bus parked near the scene. In their first interviews, they described their shock in seeing how King was treated.

Sergio Aldaz said he “assumed King must have been a bad criminal because of the way he was treated.” Javier Martinez, the bus driver, said he thought King “must have killed someone because he was being beaten and kicked so much.”

But a man named Lawrence Johnson, who was stopped by police March 23, claimed he saw the incident from Leon’s liquor store on Foothill Boulevard. He said “King’s movements were slow, as if drunk,” and that he believed “King knew what he was doing.”

Johnson added that King was knocked to the ground by a kick from a black officer from the California Highway Patrol; however, the LAPD investigation determined that no black CHP officers were at the scene.

Koon, Powell and Wind also denied that excessive force was used.

Koon told investigators that he ordered Powell and Wind to strike King “with power strokes of the baton to the torso, arms and legs, but not to hit his head.” He said the officers did “exactly as he ordered,” and that at the most 20 to 25 baton blows were inflicted by Powell and Wind.

Powell said that as he approached King, he heard Koon say: “If this guy starts to fight, just back off.”

But Powell said that he was unable to immediately handcuff King because the suspect would not remain still and that King caused him to lose his balance. He admitted striking King several times “to prevent King from regaining his feet and possibly overpowering the officers.”

Wind admitted striking King in the legs, according to the report, and said he was “trying to keep him down until he could be handcuffed.”

In addition, nine other officers said they believed the use of the batons on King was necessary.

Officer Robert Simpach, for instance, told investigators that “King was possibly under the influence of PCP, did not react to the baton strikes, did not comply with verbal commands, and he (Simpach) was concerned with the size of King’s muscular physique.”

Officer Danny Shry said that the baton strikes “were controlled, quick, administered properly and were reasonable and necessary.”

Another officer, Ingrid Larson, said that while she observed Koon at the scene, she could not really tell who was supervising the arrest.

“Larson stated that during the hitting episode, she could not recall if King or Koon said anything,” the report said. “However, she assumed Koon was in charge, but she never saw him take any action. Larson (later) admitted that she had no idea who was in charge.”

In another allegation, Wind was accused of unnecessarily kicking King numerous times. Wind admitted kicking King four times in the shoulder area, but said that he did so because King was a threat to the officers.

A third allegation states that Briseno “intentionally kicked King in the head.” But Koon told investigators that while he did not direct Briseno to kick King, “it was within policy because it was necessary to elevate the use of force to that level.”

Powell and Wind were also cited for submitting an arrest report that “failed to accurately depict the details of the incident.” Wind conceded that he did not review the report after Powell wrote it, and Powell declined to be interviewed by investigators about the report because he was under “doctor’s care.”

Koon was named in three further allegations for failing to stop Powell and Wind from hitting and kicking King. The incidents were confirmed by many of the officers who looked on.

Officer Rolando Solano, for instance, told investigators that while King was being struck, Koon yelled at King: “Are you going to give up? Do you give up?”

Wind himself said he did not hear anyone give directions on how the officers should handle King. Powell made no statement about any orders from Koon. And Koon insisted that all of the blows and kicks were necessary.

The sergeant also was cited for not ensuring that a personnel investigation was initiated into the incident. While his superiors say that the level of force was inappropriate, Koon “attempted to clear himself from this allegation by stating that he observed no misconduct at the scene of the King arrest.”

Powell was charged with using the computer in his and Wind’s patrol car to send improper, personal messages, including a racial remark about the movie “Gorillas in the Mist” that was demeaning to blacks. Powell and Wind could not be interviewed about these allegations because they have been under medical care “since the (computer) transmissions were discovered,” the documents said.

Included in the Internal Affairs report was a commentary about the long-lasting impact the King beating will have on the LAPD.

“Philosophical discussions and analysis of this incident will go on for years,” the investigators said. “It is not often that evidence is available that is as compelling and damning as that of this case. It is perhaps more unusual that literally the whole world has an opportunity to view the evidence against the accused officers.”

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