Other Incidents

Even before the beating of Rodney G. King on March 3, 1991, the videotaping of police incidents was becoming commonplace. Today there are video companies and free-lance video stringers who follow police radio calls throughout the night, hoping to catch on tape crime footage that TV stations or news programs will pay for the next morning. Here are some instances from around the nation:

AUGUST, 1991, SOUTH-CENTRAL LOS ANGELES: An amateur videotape made in June, 1988, and broadcast over KCBS-TV showed an LAPD officer chasing a man onto his front porch, striking him in the midsection with a baton and shoving him over the porch railing into the front yard. The man had observed two officers making an arrest on the sidewalk and reportedly had shouted at them. The tape was made by a self-described former gang member.

JULY, 1991, FT. WORTH: A woman standing in her back yard videotaped Officer Edward J. Parnell beating a handcuffed auto theft suspect with his baton after the suspect tried to escape from a moving patrol car by kicking out a rear window. Criminal charges against Parnell were thrown out by a grand jury, but he was fired from the police force in October on charges of using excessive force.

MARCH, 1991, LONG ISLAND, N.Y.: A 17-year-old was charged with second-degree assault and resisting arrest after he videotaped the arrest of a car theft suspect. Police reportedly broke his camera and confiscated his film. His father, who waded into the fray when officers tried to subdue the youth, was charged with obstructing governmental administration.

JANUARY, 1991, SAN FRANCISCO: An observer of a demonstration against the Persian Gulf War videotaped California Highway Patrol officers hitting protesters with batons. One demonstrator suffered a broken leg and another was cut and bruised. The two CHP officers were placed on administrative assignment.

SEPTEMBER, 1990, NEWARK, N.J.: A woman, arrested for investigation of drug possession, was shoved against a wall and struck by a police officer. The incident was videotaped by a bystander. The arresting officer was indicted by a grand jury on aggravated assault and official misconduct charges and suspended without pay in May, 1991.

MARCH, 1989, SOUTH-CENTRAL LOS ANGELES: An auto theft suspect, cowering under a couch in a back yard, was videotaped being mauled by an LAPD police dog. The tape became part of a city police recruiting video that aired nationally on the CBS Evening News last December. This prompted a preliminary inquiry by the Los Angeles Police Commission.

AUGUST, 1988, NEW YORK CITY: A riot erupted when police tried to enforce a 1 a.m. curfew among the homeless encamped in Tompkins Square Park. More than 50 people required medical treatment. Video footage taken by local residents showed police beating bystanders and prompted a review of the way police handle crowds.

SOURCE: L.A. Times files, Times wire services