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King Arrested in Vice Case, Then Released

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TIMES STAFF WRITERS

Rodney G. King, the Altadena motorist whose videotaped beating by Los Angeles police officers caused national outrage, was arrested when he tried to run down an undercover vice officer after picking up a transvestite prostitute in Hollywood, police said Wednesday.

Bypassing normal procedures, officers released King on his own recognizance without a formal booking that would list the charges to be sought against him.

Police said the case will be referred to the district attorney’s office--perhaps as early as today--to determine whether assault charges will be filed. Officers said no charges would be sought in connection with King’s alleged involvement with the prostitute.

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King’s lawyer, Steven Lerman, was not available for an interview, but he released a brief statement Wednesday saying it is “obvious that Mr. King is a very upset and confused person and certainly regrets this incident.”

The arrest shortly before midnight Tuesday triggered what one supervising officer called a “Red-One” alert among officers, still smarting over the infamy of the beating incident. Police Chief Daryl F. Gates was called at home at 3 a.m. Wednesday to decide how to handle the sensitive case.

It was Gates who ordered the referral to the district attorney. The special handling of the case by the Los Angeles Police Department brass angered some rank-and-file officers, who said they thought King should be treated like any other suspect.

Gates, however, defended the way King’s latest arrest was handled.

“I don’t know that we didn’t treat him as we would almost anyone else,” the chief said. “We treated him with sensitivity and care. I think everyone should recognize the reasons for that. . . . We have to deal with this situation with great care, and we did.

“His being released doesn’t mean that much,” Gates added, “because a crime report was made (and) it will be presented to the district attorney.” The chief said King’s parole officer also has been advised.

Tuesday’s arrest was not the first time King has been stopped by law enforcement officers since the March 3 beating.

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On May 11, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies pulled him over in Santa Fe Springs after deciding his vehicle had illegally tinted windows. Although they subsequently determined that his vehicle registration had expired and he was not carrying his driver’s license, King was not cited.

Nor was it the first time since the beating that King has been investigated by the Los Angeles police for an alleged crime. In April, the Los Angeles Police Department attempted to determine whether King had taken part in two armed robberies committed before the beating occurred. The state attorney general’s office later cleared him of any wrongdoing in the robberies.

Gates denied Wednesday that police have had King under surveillance.

National television broadcasts of an amateur’s videotape showing King, who is black, being beaten and stunned by an electric Taser gun by four white LAPD officers led to a Justice Department review of police brutality in the United States and prompted repeated calls for Gates’ dismissal. Mayor Tom Bradley also has been pressing for Gates to step down, touching off a political fight with most members of the City Council.

King and his wife, Crystal Waters, have filed claims totaling $83 million against the city and the Police Department. In her claim, Waters said that as a result of trauma suffered by her husband in the beating, she has “suffered loss of consortium and companionship due to her husband’s physical inability to interact with her and to establish sexual relations.”

King also has filed a federal lawsuit against the city, claiming his civil rights were violated.

Sgt. John Johnston, assistant watch commander at the Police Department’s Northeast Division, said the latest incident began about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday as two undercover vice officers, Efrain Baeza and Luis Chavez, were keeping two male prostitutes--both female impersonators--under surveillance in the east Hollywood area.

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Investigators said King’s car, a gray Chevrolet Blazer, pulled up to the curb at Sunset Boulevard and Vermont Avenue where the prostitutes were standing. After a moment’s conversation, one of them got into the car and King drove off, police said. The vice officers followed in their unmarked car.

About a quarter of a mile to the east, King drove into an alley behind the apartment complex in the 4300 block of Gateway Avenue and pulled into a carport, according to Johnston.

“The officers got out and approached Mr. King’s vehicle,” Johnston said. “There was rustling . . . heads bobbing . . . all the indications of lewd conduct.”

As Baeza and Chavez closed in, the prostitute spotted them “and they pulled out their badges and identified themselves as police officers,” Johnston said.

“Mr. King threw his car into reverse,” the sergeant said. “He accelerated (backward) extremely fast, then turned the car and started (forward, down the alley) toward the exit. He had a clear path toward the exit, but he intentionally turned the vehicle toward one of the officers and accelerated.”

“He missed him by only one or two feet,” said Cmdr. Maurice Moore. “The officer had to hug a wrought iron fence to get out of the way.”

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Police did not say whether it was Baeza or Chavez who was almost struck.

Johnston said King stopped for a moment near Sunset and Bates Avenue to drop off the prostitute, and then turned east on Sunset. According to police, the vice officers gave chase in their car, pausing along the way to pick up the prostitute King had dropped off.

Seconds later, King was spotted by patrol car Officers James Simoneschi and Richard Beach.

King drove alongside their black-and-white patrol car and excitedly shouted, “Thank God. Thank God. I found you guys. Follow me. Follow me,” Simoneschi recalled later. Then, the officer said, King made a U-turn and sped off, weaving through traffic at about 65 m.p.h.

When he and his partner pulled King over and approached, Simoneschi said, King declined to get out of the car at first and had to be ordered out again. When he stepped from the car, Simoneschi quoted King as saying, “I’m a crippled,” and then whispering, “I’m Rodney King.”

A vice unit arrived shortly after King was stopped and one of the officers said King had tried to run him down, Simoneschi said.

Simoneschi noted that King was calm and mild-mannered after his car was stopped, in contrast to his earlier demeanor.

“I think he was embarrassed and wanted a way out,” Simoneschi said. “When we stopped him, he was totally different. It seemed like an act from the very beginning. . . . The guy had a plan. He may have believed he had screwed up and would sucker two more officers into chasing him.”

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Johnston said the officers took King to the Northeast station on San Fernando Road in the Atwater area shortly before midnight.

“It was like a Red-One security alert,” he said. Officers scrambled, notifying Capt. Dan Schatz, the division commander; Cmdr. Moore, who immediately assumed command of the investigation, Deputy Chief Bernard Parks and Gates.

“Because of possible conflicts of interest, Mr. King was released O.R. (on his own recognizance, without bail),” Johnston said. “If it hadn’t been for the assault with a deadly weapon (the car), this wouldn’t have been anything.

“They didn’t have a lewd-conduct-type thing. They didn’t see a physical, sexual-type act. If (King) had maintained his cool, we’d have had no reason to make a physical arrest.”

Johnston described King as “very cooperative.”

No contraband was found in King’s car. Police said he was not given a blood test because he showed no indication of being under the influence.

“We offered him a couple of phone calls, but he didn’t remember any telephone numbers,” Johnston said.

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At 6:30 a.m., dressed in a jogging suit and walking with the aid of a cane, King walked out of the Northeast station. Asked by a KABC television reporter if he had intentionally tried to run down the vice officers, King denied it.

King was driven to the police impound lot, where his car had been taken after his arrest. He drove off moments later.

Reporters asked Gates on Wednesday whether King had been under constant police surveillance.

“Absolutely not,” the chief replied. “This was a happenstance by two officers--vice officers--doing their job, the kind of job they do night in and night out.”

King’s ex-wife, Denetta King, has said that since the beating he has lived with an almost paranoid fear of police.

“He’s depressed because they beat him like that and he feels that his manhood has been taken, and he’s scared because he don’t know if they’re going to try to beat him up again or kill him or what,” she said in an interview last month.

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On Wednesday, she expressed skepticism about the latest arrest.

“He’s not gay and he doesn’t mess around with prostitutes,” she said.

Like King, the unnamed accused prostitute arrested in the incident was released without being booked.

At a magazine stand and grocery store on Sunset Boulevard a block from the site of King’s arrest, employees heard about the latest King incident from transvestite prostitutes who work the nearby streets.

“The ‘girls’ next door must be having a field day because they made the national news,” said the manager, who identified himself only as Tom. “They’re celebrating already. They’ve been buying Evian water and Alka Seltzer because they’re hung over.”

Times staff writers Glenn F. Bunting and Hector Tobar contributed to this story

The Rodney King Incident

Rodney G. King, the black motorist whose videotaped beating by Los Angeles police in March triggered nationwide outrage, was arrested when he allegedly tried to run down an undercover vice officer after picking up a male prostitute in Hollywood.

1. Near Sunset Boulevard and Vermont Avenue, Rodney G. King allegedly picks up transvestite prostitute about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.

2. According to police, King drives about a quarter mile to an apartment complex on Gateway Avenue, where he pulls into a carport at the rear of the building.

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3. Vice officers say that when they confront him, King attempts to flee and tries to run one of them down as he drives away.

4. King is arrested on Sunset Boulevard, about a block away from the complex, after patrol officers reportedly see him driving erratically.

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