Downed King Still a Threat, Witness Says : Trial: LAPD sergeant tells court that the arresting officers were in danger until the motorist was handcuffed. His testimony conflicts with that of earlier expert on the use of force.

Rodney G. King still posed “a very strong threat” to police as he lay beaten on the ground because he had not yet been handcuffed and arrested, a defense witness testified Monday.

The testimony by Police Sgt. Charles L. Duke Jr. clashed with that of Police Sgt. Mark Conta, a prosecution witness who said earlier the white officers violated Los Angeles Police Department policy by beating the fallen King in 1991.

Officers Laurence M. Powell, Theodore J. Briseno and Timothy E. Wind and Sgt. Stacey C. Koon are on trial on federal charges of violating the black motorist’s civil rights by using excessive force in clubbing and kicking him during a traffic stop. A resident of the neighborhood videotaped the beating.

“Is an unsearched felon down on the ground not a threat?” asked attorney Michael P. Stone, who represents Powell, the officer seen in the videotape striking the most baton blows.

“He is still a very strong threat,” responded Duke, a former instructor now in charge of a special weapons team for the Los Angeles Police Department. “The person is a threat until he is restrained, handcuffs are put on and he is taken into custody.”

King suffered multiple facial fractures, a crushed eye socket and broken leg in the March 3, 1991, beating.

When Stone asked if it would have been proper for Powell to have struck King on an elbow with the intent of breaking it, the officer answered, “Yes.”

Conta, a Los Angeles Police Academy instructor, testified earlier that the officers’ beating of King while he was lying on the ground was a violation of LAPD policy.

In the officers’ earlier state trial, Duke’s testimony was credited with helping sway jurors who acquitted the officers of most charges. Those verdicts set off three days of deadly riots in Los Angeles.

Contradicting Conta’s testimony that officers should have countermanded Koon’s orders and stopped the beating, Duke said that would be insubordination under LAPD policy.