King Cousin Gets Work, Probation

A teen-age cousin of Rodney G. King pleaded no contest Friday at San Fernando Municipal Court to a misdemeanor charge of curfew violation and was sentenced to 20 days of community service work for the California Department of Transportation and two years of probation.

Briget A. Barnes, 19, a cousin of King by marriage, was arrested along with her 17-year-old sister during last month’s rioting in an incident that raised new allegations of police brutality.

Police said the two were among four young women arrested after a brief car chase that began when police surprised looters at a Northridge department store.

Barnes’ sister was booked on burglary charges.

During a brief interview outside the courtroom, Barnes said she had forgotten about the curfew and was going out to eat with friends after a social event when police arrested her.

A police report on the incident said a television set taken from the Target store on Nordhoff Street and Balboa Boulevard was found on the rear seat of a vehicle, which police had chased from the store’s parking lot.

In statements to police, Barnes and her sister said the TV was put in the vehicle by a man they didn’t know.

One of the arresting officers said in the report that he struck Barnes and two other women in the car with his baton because he believed they were going to jump him and escape. Barnes complained in the police report of soreness in her legs and arms because of the baton blows.