No Room for Street Justice

Local activists tally it Cops 2, Community 0. A white police officer caught on videotape manhandling a handcuffed black teenager is charged with assault and fired by the city of Inglewood. The criminal charge doesn’t stick. Next, the officer sues the city, claiming racial discrimination. A jury awards him $1.6 million.

It’s not quite as illogical as it seems. The video clip at the heart of the case showed Officer Jeremy Morse lift Donovan Jackson from the ground, slam him into a car hood, then punch him in the face. Morse claimed the rough treatment followed a struggle. He was tried twice for felony assault under color of authority, but both juries deadlocked.

Inglewood officials were lauded in the wake of the July 2002 incident for acting quickly and decisively. The incendiary videotape made national headlines, and angry protesters converged on City Hall. Mayor Roosevelt Dorn pronounced Morse guilty of assault, fired him and suspended his partner, Bijan Darvish, for 10 days without pay for not reporting Morse’s conduct. But a third officer, Willie Crook, was suspended for only four days for hitting the teen with a flashlight and failing to report it. Crook is black. Morse and Darvish are white. The partners sued the city, claiming they were disciplined harshly to quell black protests.

It is not unreasonable to believe that the public uproar affected city officials’ response. Videotaped police brutality cases inevitably get politicized on every front. In hindsight, the interests of the public and the officers might have been better served by a more deliberate process. But that requires the patience of a community confident that justice will be done. In Los Angeles, history suggests otherwise.

It’s too soon to know what this verdict will do to public trust. The message rumbling now through Inglewood, Compton and South Los Angeles is ugly: Police officers not only have permission to beat up blacks, they might be rewarded financially. But the ruling, which the city may well appeal, should not grant license to police officers to dispense street justice. Nor should it relieve police departments of the responsibility to discipline rogue officers.