Officer Faces ‘Corrective Action’ for Use of Force : Inglewood: Hospital employees said they witnessed a suspect being mistreated. He did not appear to be badly hurt.

Inglewood Police Chief Oliver M. Thompson said Wednesday that an internal investigation has determined that “corrective action” should be taken against at least one police officer who was investigated for using excessive force on a suspect.

Thompson declined to identify the officer, or officers, involved but said the incident in question involved the Feb. 19 arrest of Larry Lampkin of Inglewood.

The investigation took place after officials at Daniel Freeman Hospital reported to the city that two officers appeared to use excessive force on a suspect being brought into the hospital emergency room for treatment on the morning of Feb. 19.

Hospital officials have confirmed that they made the report but have declined to release the names of the employees who brought the matter to their attention.

However, according to a hospital employee who asked not to be named, two nurses were at an upstairs window when they saw excessive force being used on Lampkin in the parking lot below. A security guard, the same source said, saw all or part of the incident on the hospital’s television monitoring system.

Hospitals later said there was no tape of the incident because the monitoring system camera malfunctioned and did not record. Thompson confirmed that two nurses and a security guard had been interviewed by members of the Police Department’s internal investigating team.

Lampkin, according to hospital sources, did not appear to be badly injured and was released back into police custody after being treated for a cut lip and contusions. No injuries were visible when he appeared in court the following week for his arraignment.

Lampkin had been arrested by two Inglewood officers during a traffic stop. In an ensuing scuffle, his lip was cut, so two other officers transported him to Daniel Freeman, according to Thompson.

Lampkin was originally charged with four counts: assault, being under the influence of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and interfering with arresting officers.

His public defender, Peter Palmer, said that Lampkin pleaded no contest to one charge of being under the influence and was sentenced to three years of probation and 90 days in jail, with credit for time served.

Lampkin’s aunt, Gerri Calvin of Inglewood, said that her nephew told her the police had beaten and kicked him. She said Lampkin plans to pursue legal action against the department, although she said she did not believe he had been seriously injured.

Thompson said the “corrective action” would be taken against “probably one officer.”

Though the police chief would not elaborate on what constitutes “corrective action,” Assistant City Manager Norman Cravens said that, in cases where officers are disciplined, “it ranges everywhere from a verbal reprimand to a written reprimand to a suspension or, even in some cases, retraining of some kind.”