District Probes Officer’s Conduct

Los Angeles school officials are investigating whether a school police officer used excessive force while restraining a student during a melee last week at a South Los Angeles campus.

Los Angeles Unified School District officials learned of the incident Wednesday when they were shown a video of the incident by a TV news reporter.

Larry Manion, acting chief of the district police department, said the video shows a school police officer “trying to take control of somebody who was flailing around on the ground” and a second school police officer watching nearby.

The video shows the officer repeatedly striking the student in the face, according to three sources.

The video, Manion said, does not show the student’s actions before the officer tried to restrain the student and does not clearly show whether the student was, for example, biting or scratching the officer.

“We’re not going to jump to any conclusions,” Manion said. “We’re not assuming [the officers] are guilty of anything at this time, but we take any incident involving use of force very seriously.”

Dan Isaacs, chief operating officer for the district, agreed, saying, “The video is very difficult to discern.”

Manion said he expected to remove the two officers from their patrol assignments pending the conclusion of an internal investigation. The student, he said, had not been identified.

Twice last week, melees erupted on the South L.A. Area High School No. 1 campus. Police arrested 16 students Dec. 7 after a fight between two girls escalated into a brawl. Ten were hospitalized after police used pepper spray on the crowd.

The next day, 18 students were arrested after a dispute between two groups erupted into more fighting. The videotape was shot that day.

A reporter for CBS affiliate KCAL-TV Channel 9 received the video via e-mail. A representative for the station said that it remained unclear who made the video and that the station would not air it until its contents could be verified.