LAPD Officer Says Batons May Not Be Used to Force Compliance : King trial: Defense witness testifies that policy prohibits clubbing suspects to force them to comply with orders.

A witness called to defend the actions of police officers who beat Rodney G. King testified Monday that officers should not use their steel batons to force suspects to comply with their orders.

Officer Joseph Napolitano testified that under Los Angeles Police Department policy, officers cannot club a suspect for refusing to lie on the ground unless the suspect is fighting back.

“When you have a person lying on the ground--not grabbing, not hitting, not kicking--can you use a baton to gain compliance with verbal commands?” Deputy Dist. Atty. Terry White asked during cross-examination.

“No sir,” Napolitano replied.

“Can you hit him 56 times with a baton in that situation?”

“No sir.”

Napolitano said that according to police training, the steel 24-inch baton is not intended to be used as a “pain-compliance” weapon.

But he later testified that officers are allowed to club a suspect if he is “charging, pushing or running away.”

In addition, he said, police are allowed to hit a prone crime suspect to prevent him from standing or if he makes a move that could be considered threatening.

Defense attorneys, who have focused on whether King appeared to be under the influence of PCP, repeatedly questioned Napolitano about his knowledge of the drug and his experience with people under its influence.

Napolitano said that depending on the means by which a user ingests the drug, he may smell of the chemicals used in its preparation.

Defense attorneys argue that PCP can be stored in fat cells and cause “flashback episodes” hours later.

On Friday, Napolitano testified that he believed King was under the influence of PCP--which can make a user extremely powerful and aggressive--and that his colleagues’ use of force was justified.

King, a 26-year-old unemployed construction worker said to be laughing and staggering after he got out of his car, was found to have a blood-alcohol content of .19%--more than double the legal limit for California drivers--but tests for PCP and other illegal drugs were negative.

Napolitano was one of more than 15 Los Angeles police officers who witnessed all or part of the beating suffered by King on March 3, 1991, after a chase through the San Fernando Valley.

He testified on behalf of Sgt. Stacey C. Koon, 41, the top-ranking officer involved in the beating of the black motorist, which was captured on videotape by a witness.

Koon and three other white officers--Theodore J. Briseno, 39, Laurence M. Powell, 29, and Timothy E. Wind, 31--are charged with assault with a deadly weapon and excessive force under color of authority for beating and kicking King and firing stun-gun darts at him during the traffic stop.

All four have pleaded not guilty.

Napolitano testified that he saw Powell and Wind, who was fired after the beating, hit King with their batons six or seven times before he helped them handcuff the motorist. The 81-second videotape shows King being hit 56 times.

Koon and others at the scene have testified that the officers repeatedly told King to get down or lie down. Prosecutors contend that his lack of cooperation did not justify the beating.