LAPD Board Clears Fifth Bystander at King Beating : Law enforcement: Officer who helped to handcuff the motorist is found not guilty of failing to intercede.

A Los Angeles police officer who helped handcuff Rodney G. King was cleared Thursday of misconduct in the incident--making him the fifth officer to escape any serious discipline for being a bystander on the night of the arrest in Lake View Terrace.

A Los Angeles Police Department Board of Rights found Joseph Napolitano, a seven-year veteran, not guilty of administrative charges that he failed to intercede in the beating, and then failed to report the incident to supervisors.

His exoneration means that the first five of the 15 bystander officers to go to administrative trial boards have avoided suspensions or terminations, and that only one--a helicopter officer who flew over the scene--has received a reprimand.

“These officers just want to get back to patrol work,” said Sgt. Harry Ryon, a defense representative who is defending several of them in administrative hearings. “They’re getting their day in court and they’re being exonerated. And it’s a major victory for the troops. It’s finally coming out that this wasn’t the feeding frenzy that some of these spin doctors made it out to be.”

Just as much of the community was angered about the beating itself, there also was an uproar over the fact that a large group of officers stood around and did nothing to stop the incident.

The Police Department immediately relieved them of field duties and later placed them on administrative status, where they have performed tasks involving no contact with the public. In addition, several lost out on expected promotions and pay raises while waiting a year and a half for the outcome of their board hearings.

Ryon said that Napolitano was dropped from a Police Officer III position to Police Officer II. With his acquittal Thursday, the 47-year-old officer hopes to win back his former pay rank.

Ryon said that in playing the videotape of the beating to the board, he was able to show that Napolitano witnessed the beating for a mere eight seconds, and that he was busy performing other police duties the rest of the short time he was at the scene.

He also said that Napolitano firmly believed--albeit wrongly--that King was under the influence of drugs, even to the point that two handcuffs were necessary to restrain him.

“Joe was faced with an extremely large suspect, a man with Taser wires hanging on him and attempting to regain his feet,” the sergeant said. “So it seemed obvious to Joe that the blows he saw seemed reasonable.”

Department officials, citing the pending federal trial against four other officers charged in the beating, declined to comment on Napolitano’s case. But Ryon said that after the hearing Thursday, the board chairman, Capt. Keith Bushey, apologized to Napolitano “for all he has had to undergo these last 20 months.”