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LAPD
Ramparts | LA
community fights back | Darrell
Night | Neil Stonechild
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Devin Brown
From Saskatoon to LA,
people are resisting police abuse
Rage in wake of LAPD
shooting
by Kevin Herrera, Feb. 16,
2005,
The Black community came together
last Tuesday youth with community, religious and political
leaders. Councilman Bernard Parks, the former police chief who
is running against incumbent Mayor James Hahn, noted several
events that have infuriated the community. "That's why you
get the anger. At some point, it boils. And if you're not there
right now, you're getting close," he said, according to
the LA Times.
At a highly emotional community
empowerment summit held last Tuesday night at Bethel AME Church,
religious leaders from various faiths came together to urge infuriated
members of the community not to riot following the death of Brown,
who was shot multiple times by police early Sunday morning after
leading officers on a brief car chase that ended near 83rd Street
and Western Avenue when Brown, an eighth-grade honor student
at Audubon Middle School, backed the car he was driving into
a police cruiser, prompting officers to shoot.
That incident, along with District
Attorney Steve Cooley's decision last Thursday not to prosecute
the officer who beat Miller with a flashlight during an arrest,
and last month's $1.6 million jury award to former Inglewood
officer Jeremy Morse, have triggered disgust in the Black community
for law enforcement, which some say surpasses the level of frustration
and despair felt after the Rodney King verdict that lead to the
1992 civil unrest.
The sense of hopelessness and
anger led many Black leaders to fear that a riot could break
out in South Los Angeles at any moment, even as Bratton moved
quickly to release a new policy on officers shooting into moving
vehicles.
"We have been sent a message
that we cannot get justice," said Minister Tony Muhammad,
western representative for the Nation of Islam. "It is a
messed up message to young people who are going to start taking
justice into their own hands. We are now going to have a problem
between the Black community and the police, where there is already
tension.
"We could have an all
out war. I say they shouldn't do that," Muhammad added.
"What we need to do is rally and come together to show the
world that here is a democratic society that prides itself on
giving others human rights, but not here at home. We go and beat
up dictators all around the world, but we can't get justice here
in America."
The Rev. Charles Steele Jr.,
president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, who
was visiting Los Angeles from Atlanta, showed support and pledged
to organize marches and "do whatever is necessary"
to bring justice. Supporting the economic boycott, Steele said
the SCLC will not hold its annual convention in Los Angeles until
justice is served.
"We are here to help you
take care of business," he said during the empowerment summit
at Bethel. "You can't expect a system that enslaves you
to save you."
Ministers and members of the
community were expected to meet yesterday to discuss the details
of the economic boycotts.
The Rev. James Lawson, director
of the local branch of the SCLC, said murders like Brown's occur
four times a week in this country, "proof that lynching
is still going on. This can be stopped, and it is up to us to
make Devin Brown's death the last. The city council needs to
just tell the police department to kill no more children."
In an interview with the Wave,
Bratton urged people not to take matters into their own hands
and called on community leaders to be careful in the words they
use.
"I am asking community
leaders, particularly those on the radio, to temper their remarks
because we have a potentially volatile situation," he said.
"Why would anyone who is interested in seeing justice done,
who lives in the city and cares about the people, want to incite
people needlessly? I've heard some of the rhetoric and while
I can appreciate the emotion behind them, these are thoughts
best kept to themselves rather than try to stir up others (to
riot), because in that situation, everyone loses."
Bratton was referring to speeches
such as the one given by Bo Taylor, a former gang member and
founder of Unity One, a street ministry negotiating gang truces,
who said during a meeting of the Police Commission Tuesday that
war is on the horizon if the LAPD does not change tactics and
start respecting Black and Brown life.
"Many of these kids have
nothing to live for, and they aren't afraid to die," he
said. "You wanted a war on gangs, Chief Bratton. Well, you
are going to get what you asked for. You're on your way out."
Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell
said at that meeting there may already have been an attack on
police. Just hours before Brown was shot and killed, 77th Street
Station may have been the target of a drive-by shooting. McDonnell
said the incident is still being investigated, and it is unclear
who was involved, what was the motive and who was the target.
No one was hurt. Shell casings were recovered near the station.
Minister Muhammad said the
shooting of Brown could have been retaliation by officers for
the shooting near 77th, a statement Bratton finds hard to believe.
"I just don't buy that,"
Bratton said. "The officers (involved in the Brown shooting)
were from Newton (Division), not 77th. The issue is what happened
when the car (Brown was driving) finally stopped."
Bratton said that under his
watch the department has made progress, including tightening
the rules governing when officers can initiate a pursuit.
"We looked at how we conduct
pursuits, and since making those changes we have seen a dramatic
reduction in pursuits," he said. "Secondly, we have
totally revamped the use of force investigations, making them
more transparent."
He said officers are being
trained to follow the California Highway Patrol's car chase procedures,
including the use of spike strips that puncture tires to immobilize
fleeing vehicles as well as being taught how to use their patrol
cars to make fleeing vehicles spin to a halt, often called a
pit maneuver.
Bratton has also set up a new
LAPD unit to investigate shootings.
The final piece of the puzzle,
which Bratton planned to discuss with the Police Commission Tuesday,
is how to handle a suspect once a pursuit has ended.
The chief said he is concerned
about how the Brown shooting and Miller's arrest will affect
his strained relationship with the Black community.
From the moment he was sworn
in, Bratton has made it a priority to heal the relationship between
African Americans and the police department and has made some
progress, according to Black leaders. However, that relationship
is being tested.
If Bratton does not recommend
the dismissal of at least one officer, said Los Angeles Urban
League President John Mack, Bratton will be taking a giant leap
backward. "It will hurt. It will hurt a lot," Mack
said.
"I think that our relationship
is always going to be tested by these events, but I think there
is a sense of honesty in trying to address these issues, and
I think our relationship will help us move forward with solutions,"
Bratton said. "My focus will continue to be informing the
public on the process in other words, being transparent
and always be willing to speak, whenever asked, on the issues.
As you talk with John Mack, Minister Muhammad, Ms. (Geraldine)
Washington of the NAACP, I hope you hear they have felt well
informed. They may not be happy with what they are hearing, but
I'm not going to sugarcoat it. I tell it like it is."
He should have plenty of opportunities.
The Black community is calling on Bratton to come to South Los
Angeles and talk with the public face to face.
"My community is in upheaval,
and there is a lot of confusion and outrage over what has happened,"
said James Harris, a member of the Southwest Neighborhood Council.
"Since this happened under Chief Bratton's watch, he needs
to come to the community, to (zip code) 90047 - that is, if he
is the leader he says he is."
Kevin Herrera is a staff
writer for the Los Angeles Wave, www.wavenewspapers.com.
Police official: LAPD
lacks money to train officers in new shooting policy
Associated Press, Feb. 18,
2005
LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles
Police Department doesn't have the money to train its officers
in implementing a new shooting policy adopted in response to
the killing of a 13-year-old boy, an assistant police chief said.
The Los Angeles Police Commission
adopted the policy Wednesday in response to the Feb. 6 killing
of Devin Brown. The boy was fatally shot by an officer after
police said he crashed and then backed the stolen vehicle he
was driving into a patrol car following a brief chase.
The revised policy prohibits
officers from firing at a moving vehicle unless the officer or
another individual is threatened with deadly force from a source
other than the moving vehicle.
"An officer threatened
by an oncoming vehicle shall move out of its path instead of
discharging a firearm at it or any of its occupants," according
to the new policy.
The Los Angeles Police Department
lacks the money to train its 9,100 sworn officers to carry out
the new policy, Assistant Chief Sharon Papa said Thursday.
"There's no way we can
do this within the existing budget," she said, adding the
City Council would have to provide additional funds.
Training would start with the
3,400 patrol officers who are most likely to be involved in pursuits
and other encounters involving vehicles. Its cost is expected
to be calculated within six weeks.
The first step in the training
begins this weekend with a videotape of Chief William Bratton
explaining the new policy. The video will be shown during daily
roll calls throughout the city.
Meanwhile, attorneys with Johnnie
Cochran's firm are representing Brown's family and plan to hold
a news conference Tuesday to discuss possible litigation.
The news conference is scheduled
to be held at Bethel AME Church, where Brown's funeral was held.
- Brown family attorney Brian
Dunn said a wrongful death claim, a precursor to a lawsuit, was
filed Friday against the city and the officer who shot the teenager.
-
-
- Finding answers
Devin Brown shooting exposes key issues
LA Daily News Editorial,
Friday, February 18, 2005 -
It could be weeks or months
before we know what happened the night Officer Steve Garcia shot
and killed 13-year-old Devin Brown, who had been joy riding in
a stolen car.
But all the tinkering with
police policy, all the rehashing of details will not change one
fact that undoubtedly contributed to the senseless death of this
young man: It never should have come to a confrontation in the
darkness between a cop with a gun and a kid with a car.
This youth was on a downward
trajectory since his father's death more than a year ago, but
he found no safety net to help him before he ended up behind
the wheel of a stolen car with an LAPD officer leveling his weapon
at him.
In response to the death, Mayor
James Hahn pushed the Police Commission to come up with a more
restrictive shooting policy for LAPD officers. Maybe this new
policy would have prevented Brown from being shot that night
-- maybe not. But it couldn't have done anything to prevent the
series of unfortunate events that led up to that moment.
For weeks before the shooting,
Brown was skipping classes at Audubon Middle School. Was there
adequate truancy intervention? Did anyone notice that Brown was
flailing? Did anyone care enough to try to do something about
it?
The problems exposed by this
tragedy have to do with more than police shooting policy. And
if we have any hope of preventing other kids from heading down
similar paths, or keeping a cop from having to decide whether
to shoot at a car bearing down on him, we need to fully understand
what happened in the last year of Devin Brown's life.
If city leaders want to make
a difference, they need to examine all aspects of the case. Surely,
with all of the commissions in Los Angeles, one more could be
impaneled that would examine the culture that Devin Brown lived
in and the educational and social services systems that were
supposed to help him.
We must learn from incidents
like this so they don't happen over and over. Nothing would be
a better tribute to his life than to have better answers for
troubled teenagers in the future than the ones Devin Brown found.
With racial tension in
L.A., mayor struggles to hold black vote
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated
Press Writer, February 18, 2005
LOS ANGELES -- Outrage over
alleged police brutality is shaking up a wide-open contest for
City Hall in which an influential, if relatively small, black
vote could determine whether Mayor James Hahn keeps his job.
The death of 13-year-old Devin
Brown, who was shot by police after driving a stolen car into
an LAPD cruiser, galled black residents who see the killing as
the latest example of Police Department abuse. The Feb. 6 shooting
came three days after prosecutors declined to file charges against
an officer who was videotaped hammering black car-theft suspect
Stanley Miller with a metal flashlight -- images that evoked
the beating of Rodney King.
As the March 8 primary election
approaches, community unrest carries both risks and opportunities
for Hahn, a Democrat who was elected four years ago with overwhelming
black support. His situation is further complicated by his decision
in 2002 to push the ouster of Police Chief Bernard Parks, now
the only black candidate among Hahn's four chief rivals.
Hahn is running on the city's
falling crime rate. But some community leaders say the Brown
shooting is evidence that, despite the statistics, not enough
has changed.
In the black community, there
is a "feeling that it's really not better," said the
Rev. Norman Johnson, a Baptist pastor and former executive director
of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Los Angeles.
"Ultimately, this is a
problem for the mayor," Johnson said.
There are, of course, factors
beyond race that will factor into who wins, including accusations
that the Hahn administration traded contracts for political donations
and issues from traffic to troubled schools.
But the Brown shooting has
brought renewed focus on police-minority tensions, an issue that
troubled the city since the 1965 Watts riot.
With his re-election far from
certain, Hahn's typically cautious demeanor has vanished. He
demanded that the city's police oversight board rewrite the policy
for shooting at moving vehicles, publicly browbeat City Council
members who blocked a proposal to hire more officers and denounced
the decision not to charge the officer who clubbed Miller.
Hahn's hand-picked replacement
for Parks, Chief William Bratton, has been an emissary into minority
neighborhoods. The proactive approach had shown progress, with
some South Los Angeles ministers appealing to the public a year
ago to help stop attacks on officers.
But if the mayor sees a safer
city as his crowning achievement, he also hasn't hesitated to
question the actions of officers in the Brown and Miller cases.
"He's playing to his base
and trying to turn a negative into a positive by ... demanding
quick accountability and action," said Jaime A. Regalado,
executive director of the Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Institute
of Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles.
Hahn succeeded four years ago
by knitting together a coalition of largely white, moderate-to-conservative
voters in the suburbanish San Fernando Valley and blacks in South
Los Angeles -- a bloc he inherited from his late father, a longtime
county supervisor beloved in the black community.
This time, Hahn's support among
blacks had nose-dived, with many of those voters defecting to
Parks, the former police chief, a Los Angeles Times poll found
this month. Voters had no clear favorite, although Hahn was clustered
at the front of the pack with City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa,
whom he beat in a 2001 runoff.
The major mayoral candidates
this year, all Democrats, represent a rainbow of backgrounds
not unlike the city itself -- Hahn has Irish roots, Parks is
black, former Assembly Speaker Hertzberg is Jewish and there
are two Hispanic candidates, Villaraigosa and state Sen. Richard
Alarcon, D-Sun Valley.
The black vote remains crucial
for Hahn -- and an important voting group overall -- even though
Los Angeles' black population has been shrinking.
In the 2000 Census, the black
population was pegged at 11 percent in a city of 3.7 million,
although blacks accounted for 17 percent of the turnout in the
2001 mayoral race, exit polls found.
Hispanics make up nearly half
the population but accounted for only 22 percent of the turnout
four years ago. Why the disparity? One key reason: Of the 1.1
million Hispanics over 18 years old, about 650,000 are not citizens,
the census found.
As Hahn looks to keep a foothold
in the black community, Parks' challenge is to extend beyond
the black community. Villaraigosa, the son of a Mexican immigrant,
is courting voters outside the Hispanics and liberal Democrats
who propelled his campaign four years ago. And Hertzberg and
Alarcon are trying to push out of their strongholds in the San
Fernando Valley.
If no candidate wins 50 percent
of the vote, a likely scenario given five major candidates, the
top two finishers advance to a May 17 runoff.
Villaraigosa, in particular,
has been trying to avoid being pigeonholed as just a Hispanic
candidate. Four years ago, he was regarded as the first Hispanic
in years with a legitimate chance of winning the mayoralty.
When asked in an interview
last week whether it was important for Los Angeles to have a
Hispanic mayor, Villaraigosa said: "I think most people
are looking for a mayor who can get things done, who can unite
us around a common vision."
Some analysts say Villaraigosa's
ethnic image was turned against him when Hahn ran a campaign
ad in 2001 that used grainy images of a crack pipe to fault Villaraigosa
for writing a letter on behalf of a convicted cocaine trafficker.
Regalado called it a veiled attempt to paint the Hispanic candidate
as weak on crime -- a "devastating kind of association"
that shifted more conservative Valley voters to Hahn.
No criminal charges in
L.A. police beating of car-theft suspect
By Michael R. Blood, ASSOCIATED
PRESS, February 3, 2005
LOS ANGELES Prosecutors
Thursday announced they will not file criminal charges against
a police officer who was videotaped pummeling a car-theft suspect
with a metal flashlight, a case that critics compared to the
racially charged Rodney King beating.
After a five-month review,
the Los Angeles County district attorney's office concluded there
was insufficient evidence to charge Officer John Hatfield, who
struck Stanley Miller 11 times with a 2-pound steel flashlight
after a chase in South Los Angeles on June 23.
Because of Miller's attempt
to elude police, the ensuing struggle and the possibility that
he was armed, "we cannot establish beyond a reasonable doubt
that Officer Hatfield's actions were without legal necessity,"
Deputy District Attorney Margo Baxter said in a report.
Black community leaders said
they viewed the decision as a sign that African-Americans are
receiving unfair treatment in the justice system.
Mayor James Hahn also criticized
prosecutors.
"I do not agree with that
decision. I saw what you saw," he said at a news conference.
Videotape taken by news helicopters
showed Miller, who is black, being beaten on the ground after
he appeared to surrender. Hatfield, who is Hispanic, ran up and
joined other officers who had pushed Miller to the ground at
the end of a car and foot chase.
The arrest was compared by
critics to the 1991 videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney
King by four white police officers. The officers were acquitted
of state charges, sparking 1992 riots that left 55 people dead
and $1 billion in property damage.
The district attorney's report
depicted a chaotic scramble to subdue Miller after the chase
of an allegedly stolen car that reached speeds of 100 mph. During
the chase, Hatfield's partner, Officer Michael O'Connor, broadcast
that the "suspect is reaching for something under the seat."
According to the report, another
officer who grappled with Miller, David Hale, said he saw a small
bulge in Miller's waistband and shouted "gun" during
the melee.
No gun was found after the
incident but the district attorney's report said police could
not have known that.
"Miller had led officers
on a high-speed ... pursuit in a recently stolen car and failed
to comply with orders to stop and show his hands," the report
said. "Miller's furtive movements during the chase led officer
to believe he might be arming himself."
Another officer, Peter Bueno,
later recovered a pair of red-handled wire crimpers on the floorboard
of the Toyota.
However, the police report
erroneously stated the tool was recovered from Miller's front
pocket, the DA's report found.
The decision of the DA's office
not to file criminal charges came at a politically precarious
time for Hahn, who is seeking re-election this year. The black
vote is considered a vital part of his political base.
The mayor, standing with community
leaders at a police station in South Los Angeles, stressed that
officers involved could face discipline under LAPD rules.
The district attorney's decision
"points out the regrettable reality that all too often in
this community we have to deal with a double standard in justice,"
said John Mack, president of the Los Angeles Urban League, who
has been monitoring the case for the mayor.
"We want this to be again
a safe but just city," said Geraldine Washington, head of
the Los Angeles chapter of the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People.
Although the criminal investigation
was dropped, Police Chief William Bratton said the LAPD would
move swiftly with its own investigation, which could end in reprimand,
suspension or dismissal of officers if wrongdoing is found.
Nine officers involved in the
chase and arrest remain under scrutiny, including Hatfield. All
remain on the payroll, although six have been suspended from
active duty.
Bratton called tactics used
by officers during the incident "awful ... very disturbing"
but said he had not made a judgment on the conduct of individual
officers.
In a statement, Bob Baker,
president of the police union, credited the district attorney
for "even-handedness" and "not basing his decision
on the sometimes shrill coverage that this case has received
in the media."
"News video, shot from
a helicopter, from one angle and in the dark, does not tell the
whole story," Baker said. "Stanley Miller is a twice-convicted
car thief who was evading arrest after stealing a car. ...The
officers, who were chasing him on foot, in the dark, were putting
themselves at risk. This ... is why police officers are authorized,
by law, to use force if necessary."
Miller, who turns 37 on Friday,
has filed a $25 million claim against the city, saying he suffered
brain damage and other injuries in the arrest.
However, the district attorney's
report concluded that "there is an absence of credible evidence
to support Miller's contention that he was hit in the head with
the flashlight."
Miller was sentenced in December
to three years in state prison after pleading guilty to unlawful
driving or taking of a vehicle and evading police.
Another Black man beat
down by LAPD
by Laurence Ashton and Tiny,
Poor News Network
The LAPD's attack on Stanley
Miller last Wednesday was caught on videotape from a KABC-TV
helicopter that shows the officer at right striking him with
a flashlight at least 11 times.
A dim street light flickered
on and off, a crumpled can of malt liquor rolled back and forth,
and then suddenly, out of nowhere, this Los Angeles street in
the heart of Skid Row was awash in a blinding spotlight. "Hey,
what are you doing near that car?" growled a mechanical
voice that shook the asphalt.
Last week I woke up with a
start to pictures of a 36-year-old Black man named Stanley Miller
with a bruised and bleeding face flashing on the TV news. In
the foreground was a satellite videotaped clip of Mr. Miller
being beat down by LA cops after he had been "caught"
for grand theft auto in Los Angeles.
I tried to go back to sleep,
but all I could do is toss and turn unable to get the picture
of my father's face 10 years ago, three years ago and last year
after he met with several flashlights belonging to one or more
of LA's "finest." You see, my father is a Black disabled
vet who is homeless in LA. He and I still talk and every so often
I convince him to get a room, but his inner demons get the best
of him and back he goes to the streets.
Stanley Miller was hit at least
10 times by at least one officer and who knows how many more
times by the other seven officers present after he surrendered
to them following a car chase. My father was hit, punched, spit
at and called every name you could think of by a collective total
of 36 officers of the LAPD. And of course the only reason we
even know about Mr. Miller is because his attack was caught on
videotape, à la Rodney King.
As a young Black man, I have
had my own DWB (Driving While Black) and WWB (Walking While Black)
run-ins, as all Black and brown men have had. But what folks
don't know is these Nazis in uniform have been harassing and
violently attacking homeless people of all colors for a long,
long time - and who knows, who will ever know, because TV news
crews rarely document Skid Row except when they are supporting
a "clean-up" effort by the police or some other subjugator.
"We've worked too hard
to build our relationship with the community to have it jeopardized
by the thoughtless actions of a few," LA Mayor Jim Hahn
was quoted as saying as he worked quickly on damage control for
his police department.
Apparently, John Hatfield,
35, a seven-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department,
was the officer wielding the metal flashlight. Hatfield is among
eight officers pulled from patrol duty and given paid administrative
assignments in the wake of the beating.
LA Police Chief William Bratton
has said it appears police acted "inappropriately"
in the arrest. He urged the public to withhold judgment until
the investigation is complete - in other words, until the lies
and cover-up are manufactured. Bratton was hired in 2002 after
so much corruption and civil rights abuse of citizens by the
LAPD was revealed that the city had to at least appear as if
it was doing something to change the status quo.
The most hilarious part of
all of this is, the attack on Mr. Miller occurred just a week
after the LAPD said it had successfully implemented reforms mandated
by federal authorities after the feds had identified a "pattern
and practice" of civil rights violations by the LAPD.
The violent attack on Mr. Miller
has spurred ongoing protests by civil rights activists in LA
who have long accused the police department of discrimination
and use of excessive force against people of color. "The
thing that hasn't changed is the accountability level as far
as police violence goes, and particularly the department's continued
failure to weed out rogue cops," said former Police Commissioner
Melanie Lomax.
I haven't heard from my dad
for over a month. I hope he is ok. He probably isn't, but at
least I hope he hasn't met with any flashlights lately.
Laurence Ashton is a member
of the Youth in Media project at POOR Magazine. He is also a
graduate of the Poverty Studies/Media Activism Institute at POOR
. Tiny is co-editor of POOR Magazine/PNN. To read more work by
PNN youth in the media go on-line to www.poormagazine.org.
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
