Passengers in King’s Car

In response to “Get Ready for Acquittal in Rodney King II,” Column Right, by Steven S. Lucas and Eric W. Rose, Feb. 16:

The authors state that convicting the officers “will be difficult” because “the passengers in King’s car, who obeyed the officers orders, remained untouched.” No evidence concerning abuse of the passengers--one way or the other--was presented in the Simi Valley prosecution, a gap in the evidence defense attorney Michael Stone exploited to make this same false argument. In fact, both young men, Freddie G. Helms and Bryant Allen, reported from the outset that they were beaten while proned out.

Helms, who later died tragically in an automobile accident, said that he was struck when he turned his face toward the sounds of the King beating. Medical records document a laceration to the top of his head, and his bloodied baseball cap was turned over to Los Angeles Police Department internal affairs investigators. CHP Officer Timothy Singer reported seeing an unidentified LAPD officer strike Helms with a flashlight.

Allen described being kicked and stomped by an unknown officer. His claim is corroborated by a portion of the Holiday videotape, which shows an officer stomping on something behind the King car, right in the spot where Allen was ordered down.

When asked by the prosecutor during her grand jury testimony whether either of the passengers was hurt, CHP Officer Melanie Singer answered “yes,” but there were no follow-up questions.

The fate of the passengers was one of many factual distortions emerging from the Simi Valley trial because of the case presented by the prosecutors, who relied almost exclusively on police witnesses and never explained that sometimes police officers beat people like Rodney King to administer “curbside justice” in violation of their constitutional rights and then fabricate justifications for the illegal use of force. It appears thus far that the federal prosecutors, unlike their counterparts from the district attorney’s office, will be calling civilian witnesses, including Rodney King, and explaining the officers’ motives. As a result, convictions rather than acquittals are the far more likely outcome.

The real issue is not whether the federal prosecution will lead to another round of rioting, but the decaying social conditions that spawned the riots in the first place. Convictions will not solve the underlying problems. The real tragedy is that as the first anniversary of the riots approaches, the government has no other response to the growing impoverishment of ever widening segments of the population.

JOHN C. BURTON

Pasadena

Attorney Burton represents Bryant Allen in a civil case arising from the King beating.