Officers Testify in Rampart Probe

At least seven Los Angeles police officers testified at secret grand jury hearings this week about the 1997 arrest of a teenage gang member who contends corrupt Rampart Division officers beat him and threatened to shock him with a Taser gun, according to sources close to the case.

Prosecutors questioned the officers about the Nov. 27, 1997, arrest of Julio Escamilla, an admitted 18th Street gang member. Escamilla’s conviction on gun and narcotics charges was overturned this year after prosecutors said they no longer had “confidence in the evidence” in the case.

Escamilla, who has since filed a lawsuit against the city, claims he was framed, beaten and then coerced into withdrawing a complaint he filed against the officers involved.

One of the arresting officers in the case was Ethan Cohan, who since has been fired from the LAPD for misconduct in an unrelated case and is awaiting trial in the alleged beating of another gang member.

Attorney Harland Braun said Cohan denies any wrongdoing in Escamilla’s arrest. Braun added that his client was known for winning over gang members by talking and joking with them, not by assaulting them.

“This is totally inconsistent with his style,” the lawyer said. Braun said that Cohan’s firing has since been overturned by the courts and that an LAPD disciplinary panel has been instructed to reconsider his fate.

Two other officers present during Escamilla’s arrest were criminally charged in an unrelated corruption case. One was acquitted. The other was found guilty, but his conviction was overturned by the judge and is now under appeal. A third officer resigned last year amid charges of misconduct. Lawyers for those officers and others involved in the case declined to comment or could not be reached.

The grand jury action demonstrates that prosecutors are continuing to probe allegations of police corruption centered in the Rampart Division, even as they scale back the size of the special unit responsible for such cases.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Mark Ashen, who according to sources familiar with the case is conducting the probe, declined to comment. It is unclear which officers are seen as targets of the grand jury investigation.

According to the police account of Escamilla’s arrest, former officers Cohan and Edward “Bart” Brehm were conducting “gang suppression” in the area of Lake and West 11th streets when they saw Escamilla and an unidentified man walking in front of an apartment building at 2121 W. 11th St.

Escamilla was holding a white plastic shopping bag in his right hand, according to the police report written by Cohan. As the officers approached, Escamilla and the other man fled. Escamilla discarded the shopping bag as he ran, its contents--two handguns, rock cocaine and knit ski masks--spilling onto the ground, the police report states.

Escamilla ran up a flight of stairs, apparently forced his way into a vacant second-story apartment and escaped through a window, according to the police report. The officers staked out the location in case Escamilla, who allegedly was known to sleep in vacant apartments in the building, returned. According to police, he did return shortly before midnight and was taken into custody by Officer Paul Harper and his partner.

Escamilla offers a starkly different account of the night’s events. In a sworn declaration, Escamilla said he spent the evening with his friend and fellow gang member “Silly,” whose real name is unknown, in Apartment 212 of the building at 2121 W. 11th St.

About midnight, according to the court declaration, he left Silly’s apartment.

“As I walk[ed] down the stairs, I heard a creaking sound,” Escamilla stated. “All of a sudden I saw two uniformed police officers pointing their guns at me and quietly ordering me to place my hands up against the wall.”

Escamilla said that he didn’t recognize the two officers with their guns drawn, but that Cohan and Brehm, whom he knew, arrived seconds later.

“Officer Cohan looked at me and said, ‘If you turn somebody in with a gun, we’ll let you go,’ ” Escamilla said. “I responded by saying, ‘I don’t know . . . nothing.”

As Cohan allegedly pressed him for information about a gun, Officer Brian Liddy interjected.

“What’s the matter, he’s not cooperating?” Liddy allegedly said. “Why don’t you Taser his [testicles] and see what he says.”

At that point, Escamilla said, “I thought that they were no longer joking and became even more frightened. The next thing I remember is Officer Brehm picking me off the ground, then kneeing me in the stomach. I fell to the ground and all three, Cohan, Brehm and Liddy, began kicking me while I was on the ground. I yelled for them to leave me alone. After one of them picked me up Officer Liddy hit me with his flashlight on the back of my neck.”

After he filed a complaint about the alleged brutality, Escamilla said Officer Michael Montoya, at one point accompanied by Liddy, attempted to talk him into dropping the matter on several occasions. He eventually did, he said, fearing reprisal from the officers.

“They had a reputation for thumping on gang members,” Escamilla said. “I pled guilty because I didn’t believe any judge or jury would believe me over these police officers.”