CANOGA PARK : Officer Convicted of Attack on Jaywalker

A Los Angeles police officer was convicted Thursday of kicking and slapping a jaywalker and dragging him by his hair after he issued the man a ticket in front of his Canoga Park residence, a district attorney’s office spokeswoman said.

Los Angeles Municipal Court jurors deliberated four days before finding Valley Traffic Officer Clark W. Baker, 35, guilty of misdemeanor battery. Baker was not convicted of excessive use of force because the jury split 10 to 2 in favor of a conviction on the charge, Deputy Dist. Atty. David Sotelo said. Sotelo said Baker stopped Thomas Chavez, 23, for jaywalking at Roscoe and Topanga Canyon boulevards July 19, 1991. Chavez, who speaks little English, asked to read the citation.

Baker told Chavez, a Salvadoran immigrant, that he would call the Immigration and Naturalization Service if he did not hurry in reading the ticket, Sotelo said.

When Chavez stopped to put a stick of gum in his mouth, Baker slapped the gum out of his hand, twisted Chavez’s arm backward, kicked him in the abdomen and threw him to the ground, Sotelo said. Baker then handcuffed Chavez, a computer student at the West Valley Occupational Center, and dragged him to a curb, Sotelo said.

Baker, a seven-year Los Angeles Police Department veteran, will not be allowed to carry a weapon for 10 years, Sotelo said. He will be sentenced Feb. 17 and faces a maximum of one year in County Jail and a $1,000 fine.