Simi Finds No Police Misconduct at Rally

Simi Valley officials, concluding a monthlong internal inquiry, said Thursday that they found no evidence of misconduct by police officers who clashed with protesters at a Sept. 12 rally organized by white supremacist Richard Barrett.

The Simi Valley City Council ordered the investigation after Neighbors Against Nazis, one of the groups that demonstrated against Barrett outside the East County Courthouse, complained that Simi Valley police and Ventura County sheriff’s deputies acted improperly.

The group alleged that officers used excessive force and intimidation tactics when they employed horses, a police dog, batons and barbed wire to control the crowd of more than 300 protesters.

More than 200 police officers and deputies were stationed at the courthouse to protect Mississippi attorney Barrett and one supporter. The two men appeared in support of the four Los Angeles police officers who, after a trial at the courthouse, were found not guilty of beating motorist Rodney G. King.

The investigation was conducted by police supervisors and top city administrators who reviewed 11 hours of videotape shot during the rally. The 25-page report concluded that the police officers’ actions “were characterized by appropriate restraint under the circumstances.”

“We did an exhaustive review,” Simi Valley Police Chief Lindsey P. Miller said Thursday. “I could find no indication of anyone doing anything improperly. In fact, they did an excellent job.”

One incident that had provoked complaints was the arrest of a 17-year-old boy who was chased by officers and bitten by a police dog after he allegedly struck a deputy’s horse several times.

Some protesters said police and deputies used excessive force when they kept onlookers away from the two officers who arrested the youth.

The report states that the two officers were surrounded by more than 100 demonstrators, “many of whom were hostile,” and that backup officers were responding to “a potentially life-threatening situation.”

“The review of the videotape shows that officers on foot and on horseback pushed their way through the hostile crowd,” the report states. “However, the videotape also shows that there was no wild swinging of batons, no indiscriminate use of batons. . . .”

Paige Moser, a spokeswoman for Neighbors Against Nazis, said Thursday that the report did not satisfy her group.

“Our opinion is unchanged,” she said. “We still feel the police overreacted.”

The organization initially asked the City Council to appoint a civilian review board to examine the conduct of police during the rally. Moser said she will repeat that request when the internal investigation is discussed Monday by the council.

“This report confirmed our belief that the Police Department would investigate themselves with little or no criticism of their actions,” Moser said.

Miller, the police chief, said a civilian review board is not needed because the five elected council members serve the same function.

Shortly after the rally, Neighbors Against Nazis also asked the U. S. Department of Justice to look into the police conduct, hoping the federal agency would assign civilian employees to the task. Instead, the Justice Department referred the matter to its investigative arm, the FBI.

FBI spokesman John Hoos said Thursday that his agency has not opened an investigation because Neighbors Against Nazis has not responded to its inquiries.

Moser said her organization will not work with the FBI.

“To expect a fair review from the FBI is ludicrous,” she said. “The FBI does have a history of investigating people who are involved in human rights movements. We fear that we would become the objects of the investigation.”

The Ventura County district attorney’s office is continuing to pursue criminal charges against the four Simi Valley residents arrested at the rally.

On Wednesday, Municipal Judge Bruce Clark ordered Joseph Woodrow Jordan, 20, to stand trial on one felony count of assault with a deadly weapon. Jordan, free on $5,000 bail, is accused of throwing a rock at a deputy.

A preliminary hearing for Freddrick Damien Thomas, 18, was postponed until Nov. 4, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Brenda Andrade. She said Thomas, who is also free on bail, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon against a police officer and striking a police animal.

The other protesters, two 17-year-old boys whose names were withheld, will be tried in Juvenile Court on assault charges later this month, Simi Valley Police Capt. Jerry Boyce said.