LOS ANGELES : NAACP Wants Attorney Barred From Police Cases
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A civil rights group has demanded that City Atty. James K. Hahn bar one of his assistants from future involvement in police misconduct cases, alleging that he told a plaintiff’s lawyer last week the lawyer couldn’t “treat white people like second-class citizens.”
The remark allegedly was made “out of the blue” by Assistant City Atty. Ward G. McConnell during an April 22 phone conversation with Leo Terrell about a civil complaint that is pending against two white officers accused of falsely arresting and abusing a black man.
Terrell, who is an official of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, said McConnell “injected race into the conversation with no basis” as they discussed whether an officer had been properly served with a subpoena.
McConnell could not be reached for comment. This week, the NAACP complained about the remark in a letter to Hahn. Hahn’s chief assistant, James Pearson, confirmed Tuesday that an investigation is under way, but declined to discuss it.
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