LAPD Discipline Urged for Officer in King Case : Police: Board of Rights recommends 44-day suspension for one of a group who stood by during the beating. He was charged with misconduct.

A Los Angeles police officer who stepped on Rodney G. King and dragged him handcuffed across the pavement has been found guilty by an internal police board, which recommended a 44-day suspension from the force.

A Los Angeles Police Department Board of Rights found Louis Turriaga, 27, a four-year veteran, guilty on three of four separate counts of misconduct He is the first officer to be found guilty of misconduct in the 1991 beating and arrest of King in Lake View Terrace.

The board’s recommendation must now go to Police Chief Willie L. Williams for a final review. Williams could reduce the 44-day suspension, but he cannot impose a stiffer penalty.

The three-member board found Turriaga guilty on three counts: putting his foot on King’s head while he was being placed in handcuffs, dragging King in a manner that caused further injury, and failing to report the incident to his superiors. However, he was exonerated of a charge that he failed to intercede in King’s behalf.

“This is a major penalty in a disciplinary matter,” said Cmdr. David Gascon, a police spokesman. “Two months salary is a lot of money.”

Four officers were tried in Superior Court and acquitted of all but one count in the King beating; they now face trial on federal civil rights charges. None of those officers has appeared before an internal police board.

Turriaga was one of another group of officers--those who stood by as King was beaten, sparking a widespread outcry after a videotape of the incident was made public.

He is the sixth of the 15 bystander officers to go before an administrative trial board, and the first for whom serious discipline has been recommended. Four of the bystanders were exonerated, and one--a helicopter officer who flew over the scene--received a departmental reprimand.

After the King beating, the Police Department immediately relieved all of the involved officers of field duties and placed them in assignments that do not require contact with the public, said Lt. John Duncan, a police spokesman.

The board, which made its determination of guilt on Tuesday and recommended the suspension Wednesday, relied heavily on the videotape of the King beating to reach its finding.

Turriaga could not be reached for comment.

But Diane Marchant, an attorney for the police union who is representing the interests of some of the bystander officers, questioned the clarity of the videotape.

“Apparently, the board concluded that he had his foot on Mr. King’s head,” Marchant said of Turriaga. “But when I look at the videotape, it looked like his foot was on King’s shoulder.”

She also disputed the board’s conclusion that Turriaga improperly injured King by dragging him. She said the officer was part of a group ordered to move King after he was handcuffed.

“They picked him up as best they could, but apparently they didn’t get him off the ground all the way,” she said. “Mr. King has some abrasions on his chest that were attributed to him not being lifted high enough off the ground. They picked him up the best they could. Mr. King is a heavy man.”