Officers Voice Anger Over King’s Release From Jail

For Los Angeles police officers, the arrest of Rodney G. King produced a glimmer of vindication overshadowed by a suspicion that the victim of the infamous beating had received unusually gentle treatment by their superiors.

Rank-and-file officers at the Northeast Division station--where the vice team that arrested King Tuesday night works--expressed dismay with a command decision to free King without booking him for investigation of assault, leaving the district attorney to decide independently what charges, if any, to pursue.

King was detained Tuesday night after allegedly attempting to run over an officer after being spotted in his vehicle in Hollywood with a transvestite prostitute. Many officers expressed anger that King was released on his own recognizance when another suspect, they said, would have been booked for assault with a deadly weapon.

“Obviously, a political decision was made,” said one officer, who, like most interviewed Wednesday, asked not to be named.

Added another officer: “We think it’s kind of phony. Why should he get preferential treatment? I mean, the guy thinks he’s a celebrity now.”

At the same time, the arrest represented something of a victory for LAPD officers in the prolonged civic struggle that has followed the March 3 beating of King, a 26-year-old Altadena construction worker on parole for robbery.

“I think Rodney King’s true colors came out,” an officer said. “The man is just not a regular motorist like the media’s made him out to be. He’s an ex-con with a propensity to get in trouble with the law.”

Said another: “. . . Rodney King is doing things and thinks everybody is afraid to arrest him.”

The arrest--which occurred near Sunset Boulevard and Bates Avenue on the eastern edge of Hollywood--was announced at the 6:15 a.m. roll call Wednesday, about the same time King was released from custody. Most officers realized something was up when they came to work and saw news crews parked outside. The division’s ranking officer, Capt. Daniel R. Schatz, attended the roll call to outline what had happened--an announcement officers said drew little immediate response, but would soon be mulled over in patrol cars, between desks, and over cigarettes outside the station.

In between gossip, officers carried on with their work--responding to radio calls, repairing a damaged bomb-carrying device, taking reports on everything from burglary to missing persons. Several officers said they feared that even this arrest and its circumstances would do little to restore the department’s tarnished image.

“This doesn’t mean anything,” said Sgt. Ronald Lopez, a 22-year veteran. “The damage in the press that’s already been done, I hate to say it, but the only thing that will redeem the department in the public’s eyes is if a lot of officers get killed.

“That night of the Rodney King incident, there were probably one thousand incidents where officers were risking their lives and doing things John Q. Public never sees.”

Lopez added of King:

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he were to do something else, but in 22 years, nothing surprises me.”

Sgt. Sanford Rosenberg, leaving the station for a radio call, agreed. But he added that King’s Tuesday night arrest should have no effect on the issue of whether officers used excessive force on King on March 3.

“It won’t change public opinion about what happened and it should not,” Rosenberg said. “But maybe people will realize what the total man is about.”