Briseno Was Troubled by King Arrest, Partner Says : Trial: Rookie officer testifies that one of the four men charged said immediately after the incident that the situation was handled badly and that excessive force may have been used.

One of four Los Angeles police officers on trial for brutality told his partner immediately after the Rodney G. King beating that the situation was handled badly and there may have been excessive use of force, the partner said Friday.

Although called as a defense witness for Officer Laurence M. Powell--shown in the now-famous videotape clubbing King repeatedly--rookie Officer Rolando Solano testified that he saw Powell hit King on both sides of his face.

But Powell’s attorney, Michael Stone, is scheduled to call a doctor to the witness stand to verify that there were no marks on King’s face caused by Powell’s baton blows.

Solano testified that within five minutes of the King beating, Officer Theodore J. Briseno bitterly complained that his superior let the situation get out of control.

“He said something to the effect of, ‘Sarge should have handled it better. God damn it, Sarge should have handled it better,’ ” Solano testified outside the presence of the jury in the police-brutality trial.

Briseno apparently was referring to Sgt. Stacey C. Koon, 41, the top-ranking officer at the arrest scene, who is also on trial.

Powell, 29; Koon; Briseno, 39, and Timothy E. Wind, 31, are on trial for assault with a deadly weapon and excessive force in the March 3, 1991, arrest of the motorist after a high-speed chase through the San Fernando Valley.

The arrest, witnessed by more than a dozen other law enforcement officers, was documented on videotape by a nearby resident.

Powell, Koon and Briseno have been suspended from the department without pay pending the outcome of the trial. Wind, a rookie at the time, was fired.

The jury was excused during Solano’s testimony about the conversation with Briseno, and Judge Stanley Weisberg was expected to rule later whether his statements could be repeated in the panel’s presence.

Solano also testified that in an excited tone of voice, Briseno said he thought officers might have to shoot King.

Solano, who was just five months out of the Police Academy when king was arrested, was assigned to ride with Briseno and was a witness to nearly the entire incident.

When asked by Briseno’s attorney, John Barnett, whether he remembered Briseno saying anything about the amount of force used to subdue King, Solano replied, “I’m sure he did. I got that impression, but I don’t recall the specific conversation. . . . I was pretty scared and shocked by the whole thing. But I’m sure by his tone he felt it was excessive.”

Earlier, Solano testified that he and Briseno arrived at the scene in Lake View Terrace shortly after King was stopped by California Highway Patrol officers.

He said he first saw King as he was climbing out of his white Hyundai. Solano said he heard officers yelling to the motorist to put his hands on top of his head, but King did not appear to be complying.

“His hands would fluctuate from his head toward his waist,” Solano testified. “It caused me great concern because, in my opinion, he was not responding to the commands being given.”

Solano said he pulled his revolver, put his finger on the trigger and aimed it toward King because he “feared that (King) had a weapon.”

Solano also testified that King finally dropped to his hands and knees and he and three other officers moved in, each one grabbing one of King’s limbs. Just as officers were attempting to handcuff him, King threw off the officers and started to get up, Solano said.

Koon then fired a Taser stun gun at King and heard the motorist moan as the darts struck him, the witness said. But Solano said he saw King continue to rise rather than acting paralyzed as he expected.

He said King appeared to lunge at officers, and Powell delivered the first in a series of forward and reverse “power strokes” with his 24-inch steel baton. He testified that Powell’s blows landed on King’s right and left shoulder and on the right and left side of his face.

“It was a sound . . . it’s hard to describe,” he said. “I had never heard that sound before.”