3 in King Beating Say They Feared for Lives : Police: The detailed account of the incident is contained in a 314-page LAPD Internal Affairs report.

Three Los Angeles police officers indicted in the Rodney G. King case have told department investigators that they feared for their lives during the beating of the motorist and were ready to shoot him if necessary.

The officers’ first detailed account of their actions is contained in a comprehensive 314-page Los Angeles Police Department Internal Affairs report on the incident, obtained Monday by The Times. Compiled with information from 74 separate interviews, the report yields the most complete description yet of what transpired on March 3.

The document is replete with contradictions, as eyewitnesses, bystander officers and the policemen who participated in King’s beating provide sometimes wildly varying versions of what they saw and heard on a Lake View Terrace street shortly after midnight.

Among the highlights:

* Sgt. Stacey C. Koon said he ordered the baton blows because he feared that, otherwise, deadly force would have to be used on the 25-year-old black Altadena resident. “Flabbergasted” that King did not respond to the repeated blows, Koon said he had “never, never seen anyone take (that) number of blows to the legs, arms, and torso.”

* Officer Laurence M. Powell said he was so intensely wrapped up in subduing King that he never realized his fellow officers also joined in. He said that because of his high level of “adrenaline, I was tunnel vision on the suspect.” After the beating, exhausted and sweating, he told Koon that it had been a “long altercation,” and that his arms “were tired.”

* Officer Timothy E. Wind said he was “pretty excited and kinda transfixed” during the incident. He said he also was confused and frightened. Afterward, tired and spent, Wind rode with the ambulance carrying King to a hospital jail ward and, when they arrived, he “fell asleep for 20 to 30 minutes.”

* Officer Theodore J. Briseno, whose alleged criminal involvement has been limited to one kick, was not interviewed. But the investigators later found human bloodstains on his boots and uniform pants. And one officer at the scene told the investigators: “Officer Briseno was highly excited at the scene; he was screaming. . . .”

The Internal Affairs report forms the basis for department recommendations that the four officers be fired. The report states that “additional allegations of misconduct against 20 other officers” who were bystanders during the arrest are also being compiled.

King, who was stopped in the San Fernando Valley after a traffic chase, suffered multiple injuries and bone fractures. The incident was captured on videotape by an amateur cameraman, and has prompted a series of investigations into allegations of brutality and racism in the LAPD.

Many of the contradictions arose in the interviews even though they were conducted in the weeks after the incident and after the videotape had been repeatedly aired on television.

Although King, through his attorney, has contended that racial slurs were made during the beating, none of the officers or other witnesses interviewed said they heard any racial comments during the beating.

However, Officer Corina Smith described how she and Powell exchanged computer messages after the beating that some observers have interpreted to be racist.

Regarding a message about “Gorillas in the Mist” sent from Powell’s terminal, Smith told investigators that it never entered her mind that the message could have racial overtones.

The interviews also show a wide difference of opinion on how King acted when he first stepped out of his white Hyundai. That event was not captured on the videotape, and the defendants are contending that King at first resisted arrest and fought with officers when he got out of the car. They said they believed he was under the influence of PCP, although tests later showed no drugs in his system.

Like most police officers at the scene, Officer Paul Nelson said he witnessed no officer “misconduct or inappropriate behavior,” and added that “there was no reason to intervene into the actions of the officers at the location.”

Some officers, in describing events not seen on the videotape, said King displayed “superhuman strength” and appeared to be resisting arrest before the officers began using their batons.

But Officer Melanie Singer of the California Highway Patrol, for instance, said she believed King was trying to comply with the officers’ commands when he was beaten. “King did not aggressively kick or punch the officers,” she said. “He was merely trying to get away from the officers.”

LAPD Officer Ingrid Larson, who had been out of the Police Academy only five days, said that in her opinion, “King did not appear to be combative, but merely using his arms to block the baton strikes.” Similarly, paramedics who responded to the scene said King appeared coherent and was not acting violently.

Ramone Stampley, 14, who lives near the scene, said that while officers were hitting King, he heard an officer yell three times to the suspect: “You dumb (expletive)!”

Another point of contention was who supervised the arrest. Several officers reported that Koon, as the highest-ranking LAPD officer at the scene, was clearly in charge, even to the point of ordering each blow to King.

Others, however, said they could not tell that a sergeant was present. Officer Glen King, for instance, said he saw officers “standing around and talking,” but did not see a supervisor. “It did not appear that anybody was in charge at the scene,” Officer King said.

Another disparity is the extent of Rodney King’s injuries. Koon and others described them as a mere cut lip and facial scratches. But others described the horror of seeing, and hearing, each blow.

Ned Camp, a nearby resident, said the baton blows sounded like someone “hitting a tree.” Valerie Gray, a resident who has been interviewed by the FBI, said the kicking was like “a stomping motion, like stomping a bug.”

Javier Martinez, a bus driver who was stopped at the scene, worried for King’s life. “He considered getting out of the bus to help King,” the report said. But “he decided against doing that for fear of also being hit himself.”

Several witnesses also described the officers’ demeanors, and said the police officers were laughing and taunting King during the attack.

Clifford Bernard, a resident who made a second videotape of the incident, said he heard officers near King who were laughing. He said he “did not know why they were laughing, but thought it might be that they were releasing pressure.”

At the Foothill police station, Sgt. Rick Distefano said Koon downplayed the number of baton blows. Distefano said he believed that version, but was later surprised when he viewed the videotape. He recalled thinking, “Oh, my God, what happened out there?”

The following are summaries of what the four indicted officers either told investigators or their colleagues, and what was said about them. Before answering questions, Koon, Powell and Wind were advised of their constitutional rights not to be interviewed. Investigators said each officer waived those rights.

SGT. STACEY C. KOON

When King first stepped out of the car, the sergeant said he “felt threatened, but felt enough confidence in his officers to take care of the situation.”

In viewing King, he described him as a “big man,” who was “buffed out (and) very muscular.” He felt the motorist was “disoriented and unbalanced.” He said he believed King was under PCP because of his behavior and conversation.

“Koon made eye-to-eye contact with King,” the report said. “No words were exchanged. Koon noted King had a ‘glazed look’ on his face and appeared, ‘spaced out.’ . . . Koon made eye contact with King but King looked through him as if he did not exist.”

Koon said King spoke to him, but in words the sergeant did not recognize. “Like a language I had never heard,” Koon said.

The sergeant described King, on all fours on the ground, this way: “Like on the front line of a football team or like a runner in starting blocks, a mixture of the two.” He said King slapped the ground and refused to lie down.

“Koon felt King’s size and his PCP intoxication made him a far greater threat because King could, in a moment, turn into the ‘Hulk,’ ” the report said. “If King were to lunge or rush officers, King could be able to acquire an officer’s weapon or get a ‘death grip’ on an officer.”

At one point, Koon yelled at his officers to “shut up.” Noticing two passengers in King’s car, the sergeant said he began to worry if he was being set up, if he was being “duped by a diversion” by King. Koon decided that one of his men might have to use his firearm, and “ordered Powell to be a designated ‘shooter’ officer.”

The officers attempted to swarm King, but failed. Koon then twice fired his Taser stun gun. He said King did not respond to either dart. Koon then yelled, “Does anyone else have a Taser?” No one responded.

He said he then directed Powell and Wind to hit King with “power strokes” from their batons. He said Powell and Wind used “bursts of power strokes, then backed off.”

More blows followed, as Koon ordered his officers to “hit his joints, hit his wrists, hit his elbows, hit his knees, hit his ankles.

“And that’s what they do,” Koon said. “They do exactly as I told them to do and exactly as they’re trained.”

After the incident, Koon told Lt. Patrick Conmay that King “would be in a lot of pain the next day.”

But Koon did not believe that any of the baton blows were excessive or unnecessary. He also said he did not see any one inappropriately kick King. He said the “entire incident was exactly consistent with (Powell and Wind’s) training and entirely within department policy.”

In summarizing Koon’s position, the report added: “He understood it looked brutal on television, but everything done was necessary to control King, and it was all done with Koon’s approval and direct orders.”

In other portions of the report, Koon estimated that he had used the Taser stun gun about 200 times during his career to control suspects. But a review of Use of Force reports in the LAPD’s Personnel and Training Bureau revealed only two reported incidents in which Koon disclosed he had used a Taser since 1987, the period for which such records were available.

Sgt. Soloman Polen characterized Koon as a “good and experienced sergeant.” But other “unnamed people” suggested that Koon “gets along too well” with his officers. Officer John Hardin said Koon was a hard worker, but “did not like loafers. He liked the working cops.”

Distefano, in describing Koon’s behavior after the incident, said the sergeant “was talking, kind of upbeat, (with) a job-well-done attitude but with specific criticism for Powell.”

OFFICER LAURENCE M. POWELL

Before going on patrol that night, Powell and other officers had participated in a baton training session behind the Foothill Division station.

Distefano described Powell’s technique as “weak.”

“His main problems,” said Distefano, “involved mechanical use of (the) baton and glancing blows (on the pole) which proved to be ineffective.”

Distefano added that “after Powell’s second effort he demonstrated adequate performance.”

In the report, Hardin described Powell as a pleasant colleague, but also as “cocky.”

Powell told investigators that when King stepped out of the car, it appeared he might be carrying a concealed weapon. Powell “started to really worry about the fact that he was just not listening to our orders.”

Powell said he ordered several times for King to “get all the way down” on the ground, but that King resisted and descended to all fours. He said King began raising his body in push-up motions. Powell began “forming the opinion that King was a mental case or on PCP.”

Koon ordered Powell to back off from King if the suspect started a fight, Powell said. The officer was relying on Koon to fire the Taser gun if King began fighting. “Two or three weeks before,” Powell told investigators, “I was involved in a fight with a PCP suspect and I saw an officer get hurt.”

Powell described how he tried to force King to the ground, but that King rose up and almost knocked the officer off his feet. Koon fired his Taser. Powell heard King “emit a kind of grunting effect.”

King seemed undaunted. Powell drew his baton and unholstered his gun. He said King came at him, and the officer responded with his baton.

He began hitting the suspect, afraid that King was about to hurt him or grab his gun. Powell said he used one-handed baton strokes at first; then switched to two hands on the baton.

According to Powell, King was making “weird, guttural-type sounds.” Powell tried to strike King only in the arms and legs. So intent was Powell, he said, that he did not even “know Wind was there for the most part” joining in on the beating.

“King finally put his hands behind his head and stopped his movement,” the report said. “Wind also ceased his use of force. Powell did not see any other officer(s) strike King after this point.”

With the beating over, Officer Susan J. Clemmer said she noticed Powell was “standing sweaty and out of breath.”

“She heard Powell say aloud that he was scared because King threw him off his back,” the report said. “She heard Powell remark that he thought he might have to shoot King.”

Distefano, in reviewing the videotape, believed Powell had “agitated King after King finally laid down” by continuing to hit him. CHP Officer Melanie Singer believed Powell had “intentionally” struck King in the face.

Later, Powell said, they arrived at the County-USC Medical Center. Powell was “exhausted right away.” And then King “all of a sudden . . . snapped out of it and said, ‘What happened?’ ”

“Do you know where you were?” Powell asked.

“Yea, Pomona,” King replied.

“No,” Powell said. “Where were you headed?”

“I was head to take my home in Pomona,” King said

Powell said King then asked “Well, what happened?” Getting no response, King stated: “I remember fighting. That’s all I remember.”

Officer Timothy Singer of the CHP recalled asking Powell while they were in King’s hospital room if he was the LAPD’s “designated hitter.” He said Powell answered by saying, “I tired myself hitting that guy.”

Singer said he then asked King why he didn’t stop his car earlier and King responded, “I was trying to get home to my wife, man.”

OFFICER TIMOTHY E. WIND

He too had practiced that night with his baton at the Foothill station.

“Wind,” remembered Distefano, “demonstrated excellent technique and made contact in all the right places on the practice board.”

A rookie officer who graduated from the academy in November, Wind said he was unprepared for the way he described King.

“He was acting real strange,” Wind said. “He kept looking around, his arms were up like he was looking out of a foxhole. He began to make a motion with his hips like was screwing the ground.

“It was very strange.”

As Koon shot the Taser, Wind said he tried to stay out of the way. But King was “crawling like a bug” on the ground and ignoring the officers’ commands to lie still.

“Wind,” the report said, “was pretty excited and kinda transfixed on holding up his side and not letting the guy get away.”

He “was frightened because none of their efforts were having any effect. Wind was surprised and was thinking that he was not strong enough to do anything.”

OFFICER THEODORE J. BRISENO

While Distefano said he had little personal contact with Wind or Powell before March, he did recall Briseno. He said he was aware of Briseno’s earlier job suspension, but also recalled that Briseno was honored as “officer of the quarter or year in 1991.”

After the King incident, Briseno walked over to Officer Glen King’s patrol car. Officer King asked Briseno what had happened. Briseno answered:

“The guy (Rodney King) got out of his car. I thought he was dusted (under the influence of drugs). Some officers tried to get a hold at him and he tossed them off. Sgt. Koon used a Taser and it did not affect him. Powell came out of nowhere and took him down with his baton.”

Briseno’s partner that night, Officer Rolando Solano, remembered it more vividly. According to the report:

“Solano was shocked by a couple of the blows he saw ricochet off King’s shoulder and some of the chops which hit King’s face. Solano felt it was brutal for him. It was the first time he had ever seen anything like this.

“Solano was surprised King could be hit so hard and still be standing.”

Excerpt from Internal Affairs interview of Sgt. Stacey C. Koon

(King) had not responded to a torrential amount of blows, like his whole body was anesthetized against pain and it was numb. . . . Koon began thinking to himself, what else he could do. Koon thought the next thing was the use of deadly force, which means he would have to choke or shoot King. . . . Koon was not comfortable with that evaluation since King had not gone off. . . . He decided to go with the option of serious injury and severe pain. This was when he verbalized to officers to, “Hit his joints, hit his wrists, hit his elbows, hit his knees, hit his ankles, and that’s what they do, they do exactly as I . . . told them to do and exactly as they’re trained.”

Excerpt from Internal Affairs report regarding Officer Theodore J. Briseno

Officer Glen King recognized Briseno, standing alone, east of the group of officers and near the roadway (Foothill Boulevard). Officer King called Briseno to his (King’s) car. King asked Briseno what happened. Briseno told Officer King the following, “The guy (suspect Rodney G. King) got out of his car, I thought he was dusted. Some officers tried to get a hold at him and he tossed them off. Sergeant Koon used a TASER and it did not affect him. Powell came out of nowhere and took him down with his baton.”

Excerpt from Internal Affairs interview of Laurence M. Powell

Officer Powell . . . felt he was fighting for his life because if King got back up he would be able to easily overpower him. . . . Powell stated he did not attempt to strike King anywhere but on the arms and legs. Powell could have hit him in other places but Powell did not notice if he did. . . . Powell stated he was concentrating so intensely on his activity that he did not notice Wind’s activities.

Excerpt from Internal Affairs interview of Officer Timothy E. Wind

Wind was “pretty excited and kinda transfixed” on holding up his side and not letting the guy get away. He thought that the driver was continuing to struggle. Wind hit him two, three or four times and stopped. . . . There were other officers arriving at about this time and he remembers someone saying, “Get a restraint cord.” Wind stated that he was confused during the incident. He had never been in a situation like this before.