Nurse in King Case Arrested on Assault Charge

An emergency room nurse who testified that an officer accused in the Rodney G. King beating had joked that “we had a pretty good hardball game tonight . . . we hit quite a few home runs” was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon in what police are calling a domestic dispute.

Lawrence E. Davis, 40, was released on bond Saturday after his arrest Friday night, said a Los Angeles West Valley division watch commander who asked not to be named. Police took Davis into custody after the man’s ex-girlfriend reported that the two argued after Davis went to the Woodland Hills house they once shared. Davis then pulled a gun on her, she told police. Davis had moved out of the home several weeks ago, and had gone back to get his furniture, the watch commander said.

Davis was an emergency room nurse at Pacifica Hospital the night that King was brought in. He testified that King, who had face and head cuts, was cooperative and did not appear to be in pain.

Davis said that he heard Officer Laurence M. Powell ask King “if he remembered the game they played that night.” When King answered that he did not know “what you’re talking about,” Powell said: “Oh, come on. Don’t you remember? We had a pretty good hardball game tonight. We hit quite a few home runs.”