Nation IN BRIEF : MICHIGAN : Head-Bashing by Officer Described

A policeman accused of fatally bludgeoning a man kept bashing his head with a flashlight after blood had pooled on the street and after his sergeant told him, “ ‘Take it easy, Larry,’ ” a medic testified. When Officer Larry Nevers was done swinging, part of Malice Green’s scalp had been torn from his skull, emergency medical services technician Albino Martinez said as testimony began in the Detroit trial of Nevers and two other officers. An autopsy indicated that Green died after taking at least 14 blows to the head. The Nov. 5 beating, which touched off demonstrations in the city, happened outside a suspected crack house. Nevers, 52, and his former partner, Walter Budzyn, 47, are charged with second-degree murder, punishable by up to life in prison.