L.A. Teen Sues in Police Beating, Says Cops Racist

Reuters | 7/10/02 | Dan Whitcomb

[Steve_Seattle]

Damn, 30 years ago a cop hit me with a billy club without warning (he came around a corner, saw me, and "wack!" - no questions asked) because I strayed too close to an area where there was some anti-war stuff going on. I didn't know I could have turned that welt on my arm into a million bucks.

[LibWhacker]

The punk was uncooperative, resisted arrest, wouldn't assume the position when ordered to, and as a result the officer had to carry the perp to the car. Just as he got the kid to the car, the kid's weight proved too much for the lone officer and he dropped him a distance of a only few inches onto the hood, though admittedly, the officer's frustration with punk showed when he let go.

I saw the whole thing. It was perfectly innocent and not particularly violent. Any high school football player gets hit a lot harder than that one hundred times in any game, not to mention practices.

And the punch? A glancing blow no doubt in response to the punk's attempt to kick the officer. No real damage done. So let the cop go, 'fer crying out loud. Sheesh! What a nation of wusses we've become.

(Playing the devil's advocate.)

[Mark17]

And the Korean's are even more ready than they were last time.

The Koreans are totally ready this time.

[Conservative Chicagoan]

I say this criminal got what he deserved!

[nitetrax]

I got my information from the Schafer Autism Report.

Autism doesn't mean you can't walk into a store and buy something. It does mean you might not understand commands from a racist pig, however.

He's a sorry excuse for a cop. That's all there is to the story.

[nitetrax]

I got my information from the Schafer Autism Report.

Autism doesn't mean you can't walk into a store and buy something. It does mean you might not understand commands from a racist pig, however.

He's a sorry excuse for a cop. That's all there is to the story.

[nitetrax]

I agree. He was fired.

[CdMGuy]

It seems lots of people, even some here, want to blame LAPD. Folks, this is not in LA. Inglewood is a city just to the South of LA. The Forum, where the Lakers played before the Staples Center, is located there. It is near LAX. The population of Inglewood is possibly majority black. If not so, it is close to a black majority. The mayor is black. One of the officers was black and at least one, if not two, were latino. This may be a use of excessive force after this young man fought with the police. If so, some discipline is in order. However, considering the racial makeup of the city and of the officers involved, I question how it could be a racial matter.

[Joe Hadenuf]

I got my information from the Schafer Autism Report.

Well lets see it. Send me a link.

[Conservative Chicagoan]

I was talking about the real criminal not the police officer.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Hehehe....

[Britton J Wingfield]

Looks like less of a race issue and more of a berzerk-cop issue. Can his ass and move on.

[FreedomFriend]

It looked to me like there was two white cops, one black cop, and two cops of Hispanic decent.

[Zon]

Last night I saw an interview with the guy that shot the video. He was a disc jockey, not that that means anything, and that seven cops came to where he was staying and asked for or about the tape. I don't recall which it was: for or about.

I heard while watching the evening news that the kid, Donovan Jackson, was unconscious and was woken when he was slammed against the car. I had seen the video two times and commented, as well as other people saying similar, that he was dead weight and showed no resistance. He looked like dead weight when they picked the hand-cuffed kid up off the ground where he was laying face down and they lifted him up and slammed him against the car and only then did his feet hit the ground.. Being unconscious would explain why he looked like dead weight.

[nitetrax]

Sorry it's an email newsletter, but he picked it up from CNN. I have edited so you won't have to read the entire newsletter.

SCHAFER AUTISM REPORT "Healing Autism: No Finer a Cause on thePlanet"

____________________________________________________________

July 10, 2002 CALENDAR LISTING:

EVENTS@doitnow.com

TREATMENT

* A Look At Sensory Integration: Debating Diagnosis of Sensory Malady in Children

EDUCATION

* Kennedy Takes On Special-Ed Report



CARE

* FBI to Probe Video Shows Ingelwood Officers Punching Disabled, Cuffed Teen



AWARENESS

* Top 20 or so Autism Related Email Discussion Groups - By Size



RESEARCH

* Schafer Autism Report Continues its Prelim. Survey On Enzyme Usage



* * * FBI to Probe Video Shows Ingelwood Officers Punching Disabled, Cuffed Teen http://click.topica.com/maaaq3eaaSKRUa4JiCNb/ Inglewood, California (CNN) - The FBI is conducting its own investigation of the videotaped beating of a handcuffed black teen-ager in this Los Angeles suburb, officials said Tuesday.

The amateur videotape of the Saturday incident, which aired on local and national television Monday, shows a white police officer throwing Donovan Chavis, 16, against a police car and punching him in the face.

An attorney for Chavis described the teen as a developmentally disabled special education student with no arrest record who did not understand what was happening, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The incident also is under investigation by the city's police department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the district attorney's office.

Inglewood Mayor Roosevelt F. Dorn told dozens of protesters who showed up Tuesday at city hall demanding a meeting that the officer should be fired.

Dorn said he had ordered the suspension of Jeremy Morse, a three-year veteran of the police force. No action has been taken against three other officers and two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies at the scene.

"In my city, this type of conduct will not be tolerated," Dorn said to cheeers from the protesters. "It is my opinion that he should be fired." Dorn said he was deeply disturbed by what he saw on the video and that "there is nothing that could have occurred" before the video began rolling that would have merited such police action.

"This shouldn't have happened again after Rodney King," said Inglewood resident Shirley McNabb who was among the people at city hall.

In Washington, Rep. Maxine Waters, the Democrat who represents Inglewood, wrote Attorney General John Ashcroft Tuesday requesting a Justice Department investigation.

"I don't see white police officers slamming the heads of little white boys into police cars," Waters told a Capitol Hill news conference.

"I haven't seen them abusing white males. What I see is white police officers abusing black males, and young black males particularly. Yes, I believe it's racially motivated.

"I stand with this family. I stand on the side of this young man," Waters said. "There was nothing that he could have done that could have caused this kind of treatment.

"He didn't have a weapon. He didn't try to run away. He did nothing that could cause the police to bang his head against that police car."

Inglewood police have not said much about what led up to the incident -- only that Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies had stopped the car because of expired license plates.

The boy's father, Coby Chavis, also was driving with a suspended license. Police said the boy lunged at Morse and that the officer sustained cuts as a result -- a claim the family denied.

Donovan Chavis told CNN he and his father had gone to a gas station Saturday. After he paid for the gas and bought a package of potato chips, he returned to the car and found police questioning his father, he said.

At one point, the teen said, a police officer turned his attention to him: "He said, 'Put those chips on the car and step back from the car.'"

Donovan said he did. "What they told him to do, he did it," his father said.

Family attorney Joe Hopkins said that before the video began Donovan was handcuffed, beaten and dragged by an 18-inch chain around his neck that snapped.

* * *

[Map Kernow]

Autism doesn't mean you can't walk into a store and buy something. It does mean you might not understand commands from a racist pig, however.

Pure, unadulterated BS. You mean now "developmentally disabled" people don't have to obey the law? Take your theory to the Supreme Court.

[Joe Hadenuf]

An attorney for Chavis described the teen as a developmentally disabled special education student with no arrest record who did not understand what was happening, the Los Angeles Times reported.

I asked you earlier if you heard this from the attroney? LOL! What the hell do you expect his attorney to say?? Jezzz

[Zon]

My sincere wish for them is that they get to experience some real lack of respect from a vicious street punk, alone, defenseless, and without a cop in sight. That'll dry up their bleeding hearts real quick.

I believe you are sincere and expect you to stand your ground Are you a gun control advocate because a concealed gun is great protection against the abuse you desire be inflicted on others. So long a violent assault and violent crime increases there's a louder cry for government protection. It's a politician's "mating" call and they come a flockin' to save the day with more laws that don't work.

 

[nitetrax]

I didn't say that. I WILL say this. If any pig in uniform ever lays a hand on my child who didn't understand him, then he's a dead pig.

[Zon]

The report says the kid was tensed up and not cooperating.

I heard while watching the evening news that the kid, Donovan Jackson, was unconscious and was woken when he was slammed against the car. I had seen the video two times within three hours of the incident first being reported and commented, as well as other people saying similar, that he was dead weight and showed no resistance. He looked like dead weight when they picked the hand-cuffed kid up off the ground where he was laying face down and they lifted him up and slammed him against the car and only then did his feet hit the ground.. Being unconscious would explain why he looked like dead weight.