Whirlwind of Issues in Police Beating Case

Re “Just Bad Work by Cops, Not Racism,” June 30: I would like Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn to form a committee to look into the daily killings in the neighborhoods south of the Santa Monica Freeway. Or a committee that would look into the substandard economic and educational conditions that exist in those neighborhoods, which compel young men from South L.A. into lives of crime. Stanley Miller’s case is a sad one, but there is more involved here than the TV cameras show.

Tom Iannucci

Los Angeles

Although I am sensitive to the comments about Miller’s beating, I wonder why the heat is focused on LAPD Chief William J. Bratton? If Miller had not led police on a chase, threatening the lives of officers and pedestrians, he would not have any worries. Why don’t some of Miller’s supporters find a more worthy candidate to support than one who runs from the police? Should the officers involved instead give him a handshake and applaud his pedestrian-threatening driving skills?

Mitch Lang

Redondo Beach

The recent LAPD incident in which car-theft suspect Miller is seen on videotape being struck 11 times by a flashlight-wielding officer certainly brings back the disturbing 1991 images of Rodney King. Although I recognize that the police have a very difficult job, I also can’t help but wonder how many times police abuse may have occurred through the years with no accountability only because it was not captured on videotape.

Jon White

Monrovia

Al Sharpton does not speak for all black people. Especially those of us in Southern California who remember his association with Tawana Brawley in New York. Aren’t there enough problems in New York City that he could talk about? Who decided that he should be involved in the Miller incident (June 29)? Go back to New York, Al.

Terri Strum

North Hollywood