Police Officer Seeks Public LAPD Hearing

The first of six Los Angeles police officers relieved of duty for not stopping the beating of Rodney G. King is demanding an administrative hearing within 10 days and insisting that if the LAPD does not comply, he should be reinstated with back pay.

Officer Tim Blake, a three-year veteran, on Tuesday selected three police supervisors to preside over his Board of Rights hearing, which at his insistence was scheduled for Aug. 9. In addition, the 28-year-old officer is demanding that the hearing be open to the public.

Blake is one of six officers who are being relieved of duty because they watched the beating but did nothing to stop it. Another four officers who were spectators at the incident in Lake View Terrace have been suspended.

If Blake prevails in his demand for an open Board of Rights hearing, his case will be the first to be aired publicly since King was beaten by police on March 3.

However, the department may choose to either postpone the hearing or close it to the public, citing a court order in the criminal case that prohibits the public dissemination of police Internal Affairs records regarding the King beating.

If that happens, sources said, Blake will petition Chief Daryl F. Gates to reinstate him with pay until the hearing can be held. Otherwise, they said, it would be unfair to punish Blake without affording him a timely opportunity to argue that the disciplinary charges are unfair.

“It’s double punishment,” said Sgt. Don Westfall, who supervises the police Employee Representation unit.

Lt. Fred Nixon, a Police Department spokesman, declined to predict how Gates might respond if Blake and the other officers petitioned the chief for reinstatement.