LAPD Panel Urges Briseno Firing : Law enforcement: Board of Rights finds the suspended officer guilty of unnecessarily kicking King. Attorney threatens suit if Williams approves dismissal.

A police Board of Rights on Tuesday recommended that Officer Theodore J. Briseno be fired from the Los Angeles Police Department, finding the suspended officer guilty of unnecessarily kicking Rodney G. King during the notorious 1991 police beating.

The decision, rendered by a three-member board, must be approved within five days by Police Chief Willie L. Williams. If Williams follows the board’s recommendation, Briseno will take the department to court, Briseno’s lawyer said.

“I’m a little disappointed,” said Gregory G. Petersen, lawyer for the 40-year-old Briseno. “But we’re confident that . . . we’ll be able to reverse their decision in the trial courts.”

Briseno was one of four LAPD officers originally charged in the March 3, 1991, King beating, and many who saw the videotape of the incident thought he appeared to be kicking or stomping King.

In the criminal and civil trials that ensued, Briseno broke the so-called code of silence by testifying that other officers involved in the beating--especially Officer Laurence M. Powell--were out of control and that Sgt. Stacey C. Koon, the supervisor at the scene, did not properly execute control.

But Briseno denied that he acted with unnecessary force, saying that he was just trying to force King to the ground so King could be handcuffed and taken into custody.

Although Powell and Koon were eventually convicted of violating King’s civil rights, Briseno was acquitted in the criminal and civil rights trials and found not liable for punitive damages in King’s civil suit.

His attorney had argued that the Board of Rights should give him his job back because he has not been convicted of any crimes.

But in a statement released Tuesday, LAPD Capt. Val Paniccia of the LAPD’s West Valley Division said: “This board’s decision is that Officer Briseno’s use of force was unreasonable and unnecessary and he is guilty as charged.”

In recommending the firing, the board cited a prior suspension for excessive force on Briseno’s record, telling the officer that he “failed to learn” from the punishment.

A department advocate also noted that Briseno had failed to file a report on the night of the King beating expressing his concerns that excessive force had been used. If he had actually been concerned, Sgt. Corrie Malinka argued, he should have told his superiors.

Petersen said, however, that the board “acted in excess of its jurisdiction” by firing Briseno on the basis of an accusation that was found to be baseless in three courts of law.

“I guess LAPD gets to have a different standard of justice,” said the attorney for Briseno, who has been unemployed for several years.

“I guess three captains know more than three juries of 12 and one jury of nine,” Petersen added. “I’m surprised, but I guess I shouldn’t be.”