LOS ANGELES : Defense Demonstrates Chokehold in King Trial

A lawyer in the Rodney G. King lawsuit crumpled to the courtroom floor Tuesday after a police officer applied a banned chokehold the defense says could have spared King his beating.

“Are you still conscious?” U.S. District Judge John G. Davies asked after lawyer Ira Salzman slumped to the floor. Salzman, who represents former police Sgt. Stacey C. Koon, said he was fine.

Salzman had former police Officer Kenneth Dionne demonstrate the carotid chokehold, which was banned--except for use as deadly force--by the Los Angeles Police Department in 1982.

Salzman also called expert witnesses to support positions that the officers who beat King believed that he was on the psychedelic drug PCP and that they could have avoided the beating if they had been allowed to use the chokehold to subdue him.

But under cross-examination, King’s attorney said the chokehold was restricted in 1982 because it had resulted in several deaths--particularly of African-American males. King, who is black, has denied being on PCP when he was beaten and there has been no evidence presented that he was.