1st Anniversary of King Beating Prompts Coalition to Call for Police Reform

A coalition of community and civil rights groups marked the one-year anniversary Monday evening of the police beating of Rodney G. King by calling for adoption of proposed City Charter amendments that would reform the Los Angeles Police Department.

The group, called the Coalition for Police Accountability, said it would form a “truth squad” to advance seven principles of police accountability. It also announced that it will monitor and counter opposition to the proposed amendments.

The group will make sure that Police Chief Daryl F. Gates “is honest,” coalition chairman Meir Westreich told a small crowd that had gathered at the site of the beating at the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Osborne Street in Lake View Terrace.

“We may be small in numbers standing here in the rain . . . but we are a rising tide,” Westreich said.

Organizers had expected 200 to 300 people for what had been billed as a candlelight vigil, but a persistent rain kept the crowd down to about two dozen, who tried to stay dry under a tent.

The seven principles of police accountability proposed by the coalition mirror those proposed by the Christopher Commission, such as ensuring that the Police Department is subject to civilian authorities and putting an end to what critics call a “code of silence” among officers.

Among those in the crowd was Bryant Allen, who was a passenger when King was pulled over the night of the beating, and Barbara Cruse, the mother of Freddie Helms, another passenger in King’s car.

The vigil began with participants breaking 56 sticks, which organizers said symbolized police batons--one for each blow King was struck by police officers.

“We hope that by breaking these sticks, we break the pattern of police brutality,” said Peter Haviland of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Coalition members said their organizations will hold voter registration drives and rallies to persuade voters to approve the charter amendments on the June 2 ballot.

Jose De Sosa, president of the San Fernando Valley chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, said he hoped that justice would prevail in the trial of the four officers involved in the beating, even though the trial was moved to Simi Valley and features a jury that he described as “soft.”

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