LAPD tactics assailed at hearing

The Los Angeles Police Department came under heavy criticism from community residents and activists at a City Council task force hearing Monday night reviewing officers’ actions in the melee that broke out during a May 1 immigration rights rally at MacArthur Park.

Many in the crowd of about 200 who turned out for the task force’s initial public forum, held at an elementary school across the street from the park, said that officers overreacted or even provoked the confrontation.

Luis Carrillo, a lawyer representing several people who said they were injured in the melee, drew a burst of applause when, during the question-and-answer session, he called for a federal investigation of police actions. He also urged Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to back away from recommending a second five-year term for Police Chief William J. Bratton, at least until the current array of investigations is completed.

As Bratton sat impassively about 10 feet away, Carrillo faulted the department for “a total lack of command and control” during the confrontation. He also disputed the department’s finding that 24 civilians were injured at the park by officers wielding batons and firing foam-rubber projectiles, claiming that the actual tally was far higher.

Carrillo also said the department’s contention that officers were provoked by agitators who were throwing rocks and bottles at them “was a smokescreen that the LAPD wants us to believe.”

Another speaker, Josefina Gonzalez, who said she was among those hurt while participating in the rally, broke down in tears as she recounted being struck by police several times in the face and on her body in front of her three children. Speaking through a translator, Gonzalez called the LAPD’s behavior “an act of racism.”

“I used to feel very protected by the Police Department. Now I just feel fear,” she said.

One of the few LAPD defenders who commented publicly at the forum, Bob Wooldridge, complained that televised footage of the melee “showed the police being terrible, but they didn’t show the people throwing rocks and bottles.” But Wooldridge, who acknowledged that he didn’t attend the demonstration, was nearly shouted down by others at the forum with calls of “you weren’t there.”

The session began with comments from city officials, including council members Jack Weiss and Ed Reyes, the co-chairs of the task force. “We all share the same goal here, which is to restore public confidence in the LAPD,” Weiss said.

Reyes, whose council district includes MacArthur Park, said the five forums to be held by the task force would lead to policy recommendations to revamp the Police Department’s practices.

Bratton and LAPD Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell also spoke at the session, and alternated between promising a thorough internal investigation of the melee and urging members of the public who witnessed the melee to come forward with their information, while also hewing to their position that officers were provoked by agitators.

McDonnell told the audience that police were reviewing extensive videotape from surveillance cameras at the park and by members of the public in an effort “to be able to put together a coherent timeline as far as what was happening when at different parts of the park.” He said that by May 30, when an internal Police Department investigation is due to be turned over to the City Council, “we’ll have a pretty good picture of what went on.”

Bratton, while saying that police were responding to “provocation,” added, “if certain officers in their response were found to have exceeded policy guidelines, then that will be dealt with.” At the same time, he said the department’s major crimes unit will “be seeking to arrest others who can be identified throwing missiles at the officers.”

The repercussions of the MacArthur Park melee continue to echo through the Police Department and the community. Two senior police commanders involved in the incident have been reassigned, even as Villaraigosa has pledged support for Bratton.

Along with the internal Police Department review and the efforts by the City Council task force, a number of community groups have also pledged to closely track the proceedings. In addition, the FBI has begun a preliminary review.

ashraf khalil@latimes.com