Community Service Ordered for Officer in Brutality Case

A Los Angeles policeman convicted of battery for slapping, kicking and dragging a handcuffed jaywalker in Canoga Park was sentenced Wednesday to 350 hours of community service.

Officer Clark W. Baker, a 12-year department veteran and ex-Marine who was described in court by his superiors as a “sensitive, caring” officer, was also ordered not to carry a gun on the job.

Baker, found innocent of wrongdoing last year by an internal police review board, was convicted earlier this month by a Los Angeles Muncipal Court jury of a sole count of battery. The jury deadlocked, 10-2, for conviction on a second count alleging that Baker used excessive force in citing a 21-year-old El Salvadoran immigrant for jaywalking in 1991.

Citing the discrepancy between the jury’s verdict of guilt and the LAPD Board of Rights’ finding of innocence, Judge Veronica Simmons McBeth said in sentencing Baker that she “had no confidence the LAPD, if allowed to handle this internally, would take steps to make sure this does not happen again.”

The judge ordered Baker, 35, of Simi Valley to perform his community service work at El Rescate, the Pico-Union district community service agency that works with Central American immigrants.

Deputy Dist. Atty. David Sotelo,the prosecutor in the case, said the conviction should send a “strong message.”

“This shows that jurors in this county, no matter what their background or how pro-police they can be, can deliver a fair verdict and find a police officer responsible for his conduct,” Sotelo said.

Bob Wilson, Baker’s attorney, said the verdict proved precisely the opposite point. “I just don’t think at this present time it’s possible for a police officer to get a fair trial, given the current climate in the city of Los Angeles,” Wilson said.

Baker, who could have drawn up to a year in jail for the conviction, declined to comment.

The incident took place near the intersection of Roscoe and Topanga Canyon boulevards.

Baker wrote Chavez a ticket for jaywalking and got angry when Chavez, who speaks little English, asked to read it, Sotelo said. A crowd gathered, and Baker testified he feared Chavez would flee. The officer twisted Chavez’s arm behind him, kicked him three times in the abdomen and threw him on the ground, according to testimony.

After handcuffing Chavez, Baker dragged him by his ponytail and by the cuffs for about 10 feet, Sotelo said.