Officer’s Testimony Stirs Dispute : Trial: Ex-partner of Theodore Briseno says he blamed Sgt. Stacey Koon for not controlling the situation. Defense lawyers contend that Officer Rolando Solano’s statements should be stricken from the record.

Officer Theodore J. Briseno was frustrated by the way the arrest of Rodney G. King was handled and blamed Sgt. Stacey C. Koon for not controlling the situation better, Briseno’s former partner testified Monday.

Officer Rolando Solano’s testimony came despite vigorous defense objections in the federal trial of Briseno, Koon, Officer Laurence M. Powell and Timothy E. Wind, all charged with violating King’s civil rights.

Solano, who was present as police beat King but who has not been charged in the case, also contradicted statements by the four defendants, who have said that King was hit only after he threw officers off his back and who also have said that some of the injuries to his face were suffered in the opening moments of the incident.

Solano told jurors that he had little trouble holding King down, and that King did not fall face-first to the ground during the opening moments.

Solano’s most significant testimony, however, was about a conversation immediately after the incident.

“I recall Officer Briseno saying words to the effect of: ‘The sergeant should have handled it better’,” said Solano, who was training under Briseno on the night of the incident and who received a 22-day suspension for his involvement. Briseno “seemed to be angry,” Solano added.

Although Solano has previously testified about that conversation, defense lawyers believed that they had successfully argued that it should not be admitted as evidence.

Briseno’s lawyer, Harland W. Braun, maintained that Solano should not have been allowed to quote Briseno because Briseno was not qualified to render expert opinions about how the arrest was carried out. Prosecutors had previously agreed to exclude portions of Briseno’s testimony on that topic during last year’s state trial.

Although that agreement did not cover the testimony of other witnesses such as Solano, Braun accused prosecutors of violating the intent of the deal.

“The government conceded that this testimony from Briseno is inadmissible,” Braun said. “Then they bring in from Solano the very statements that they conceded were inadmissible. That’s objectively dishonest.”

Defense lawyers angrily demanded that Solano’s comments be stricken from the record. U.S. District Judge John G. Davies said he will take up their motion today.

In the meantime, the prosecution’s handling of Solano stirred almost as much surprise for what the officer did not say on the stand as for what he did.

During the state trial and in interviews with internal affairs investigators, Solano said he saw Powell deliver several glancing baton blows to King’s head. Solano described the beating as “brutal.”

As a result, defense lawyers had expected the prosecution to focus their questioning largely on those blows. But Assistant U.S. Atty. Steven D. Clymer ignored that topic Monday and instead pressed Solano about what Clymer said were misleading statements that the officer had made to LAPD internal affairs investigators.

In their report, investigators wrote: “Solano remembered the whole incident, with King standing up until the end, when he began to comply and kneel down.”

But Clymer played the videotape of the beating for Solano, noting several occasions in which King is hit while lying on the ground or kneeling.

“What you told internal affairs is inconsistent with what you see on the videotape, is it not?” Clymer asked.

Defense lawyers objected before Solano could answer.

Clymer would not comment on why he attacked the credibility of his own witness, but defense lawyers said prosecutors are embarking on an effort to show that the police have maintained a “code of silence” intended to thwart investigators.

“They’re trying to set up a code of silence argument to undermine other officers who testify,” said Michael P. Stone, who represents Powell.

Koon’s lawyer, Ira Salzman, agreed and accused the prosecution team of heading down “the path of superstition, rumor, innuendo and witchcraft.”

Solano’s testimony concluded a day marked by protracted legal wrangling over the question of whether witnesses who have read internal affairs statements by three of the four defendants can testify.

The defendants were forced to make those statements or risk discipline, and because all defendants have the constitutional right not to testify, the statements are not admissible as evidence.

What makes that matter tricky is that excerpts of the statements have been published and broadcast, and other police officers have received copies of them as part of their disciplinary hearings.

Defense lawyers say the wide dissemination of the documents has potentially tainted witness accounts of the beating. The attorneys argued for nearly three hours Monday that Solano should not be allowed to be a witness.

Although they lost that argument, Davies sympathized with their position and agreed to hold hearings on the matter as the trial progresses and other potentially tainted witnesses are called.

Also Monday, George Holliday, who filmed the nine-minute videotape of the King beating and its aftermath, testified briefly about his world-renowned tape. He said he was awakened by the sounds of sirens just after midnight March 3, 1991, and when he saw what was happening outside his window, he bolted for his newly purchased camera.

“I saw a white car that had been stopped by several police cars,” Holliday said. “I saw a black man who was spread-eagled on the car. . . . There was a lot of commotion.”