Posted on 07/10/2002 2:38:59 PM PDT by kattracks
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A black teenager whose videotaped beating by police in suburban Inglewood has touched off a nationwide outcry and triggered an FBI investigation filed a "seven-figure" federal civil rights lawsuit over the altercation on Wednesday.
Lawyers for 16-year-old Donovan Jackson filed the lawsuit on behalf of the boy and his father, claiming that Inglewood police and Los Angles County Sheriff's deputies pulled both of them out of a car and beat them for no reason while shouting threats and racial epithets.
"We want to send the city of Inglewood a message that we are going to prosecute this case as vigorously and roughly as they beat our clients," attorney John Sweeney said.
But a report written by deputies after the beating -- and before the videotape surfaced -- portrays the incident as a struggle between police and Jackson and that boy "pulled, scratched and fought" officers as they tried to handcuff him.
The tape, shot by 27-year-old Mitchell Crooks from his motel room across the street, shows Inglewood Officer Jeremy Morse lifting Jackson, who was handcuffed, from the ground and slamming him onto a squad car. Morse then is seen slugging Jackson in the face as other officers surround them.
Outraged black leaders across the country, including U.S. Democratic congresswoman Maxine Waters, who represents the area where the altercation took place, and Inglewood Mayor Roosevelt Dorn, have called for Morse to be fired and charged with serious state or federal crimes without further delay.
Kweisi Mfume, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the officers had taken the law into their own hands with "brute, excessive force" but said he was willing to wait for authorities to complete their probes.
The incident was also swiftly compared to the incendiary 1991 beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police after a high speed chase, which was also caught on videotape.
A MEAN LOOK
When four officers were acquitted of criminal charges, Los Angeles erupted into some of the worst riots in modern U.S. history, leaving 54 people dead and more than $1 billion in property damage from arson, looting and destruction.
Lawyers for Jackson said after filing the lawsuit that the boy and his father, Coby Chavis, were at a gas station when deputies drove by and "gave them a mean look" before doubling back to grill Chavis about his expired vehicle plates.
"Donovan Jackson was seated in the car, and he stood up, leaned up, to see what was going on and that's when officers, both from the Inglewood Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, started physically assaulting both," attorney John Sweeney said at a press conference.
"Both plaintiffs in this lawsuit were beaten before the videotape (started rolling)," Sweeney said. "The videotape was a small snippet of what actually transpired on that day."
He added: "Just ask yourself why Mr. Crooks even picked up his (camera) on that day. The worst beating (sustained by) both parties took place before the video ever started running."
Sweeney said he did not specify damages in the lawsuit in compliance with rules for U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, but added that "we believe this is a seven-figure case."
Joe Hopkins, another lawyer for Jackson and Chavis, said that both believe they were beaten because they are black.
"There was a statement made to Mr. Chavis by one of the officers to the effect of: 'Nigger, we're gonna arrest you. Today we beat your son's ass, we're gonna beat you and if we see you on the street we're gonna beat your ass."
POLICE REPORT PAINTS DIFFERENT PICTURE
An Inglewood police spokeswoman could not immediately be reached to discuss the lawsuit and a sheriff's spokeswoman declined to comment.
The sheriff's report, released on Wednesday, however, paints a different picture of the incident, saying that Jackson became hostile as deputies were trying to question his father about his expired plates and suspended driver's license.
The report, written by Deputy Carlos Lopez, claims that Lopez became suspicious when Jackson put his left hand in a pocket and began "manipulating" something there.
"Not knowing if the subject had a dangerous item in his pocket I asked the subject to face his vehicle and place his hands on top of the roof," Lopez wrote. "The subject did not respond and continued to intently stare at me."
After Jackson remained tense during a "pat down search," Lopez wrote, he tried to place the teen into his squad car.
"The subject said he was not getting into the patrol car," Lopez wrote. "The Inglewood officers also ordered the subject into the vehicle. Without warning, the subject lunged at me, raising his hands in front of him. I crouched and attempted to push the subject into the vehicle but I was unable."
At that point, Lopez wrote, Officer Morse and his partner helped the deputies as they "took the subject to the ground" and tried to handcuff him.
"During the altercation the subject pulled, scratched and fought with the victims (officers) requiring Inglewood police personnel to strike the subject with personal weapons on his facial area," Lopez wrote.
Lopez, who describes injuries to himself and both Inglewood officers, makes no mention of Morse shoving Jackson head-first into the car or striking him in the face with his fist.
Uh, LAPD had nothing to do with this.
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