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Donovan Jackson
Donovan Jackson Arrest
Sixteen-year-old Donovan Jackson,
who reportedly has a developmental disability, was arrested by
Inglewood, California police in July 2002. A video-tape of the
arrest, showing an officer slamming the hand-cuffed teen onto
the back of a patrol car and repeatedly striking him on the face,
was broadcasted on television across the country.
Report and editorial from Revolutionary
Worker
Video-Tape Captures Police
Beating Hand-Cuffed Teen
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion
Daily Express, July 10, 2002
INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA--Last
Saturday, a tourist video-taped an Inglewood Police officer slamming
16-year-old Donovan Jackson down onto a police car and then punching
him in the face -- while he was handcuffed.
Police Officer Jeremy Morse
was suspended on administrative leave while the police department,
district attorney and mayor's office investigate the incident.
Some are comparing the incident to the 1991 video-taped beating
of Rodney King Jr, because Jackson, who is black, was beaten
by Morse, who is white.
"It was wrong," said
Jackson, who reportedly has a developmental disability and is
a special education student, at his attorney's office Monday.
According to the Associated
Press, the video was recorded from a motel across the street
from the gas station where the incident took place. It shows
Jackson being pulled to his feet by Morse, then slammed onto
the trunk of the police car. The tape also shows Morse putting
a hand on the back of Jackson's neck, slugging him with his other
hand and then trying to choke him.
Two other officers intervened,
with at least one attempting to pull Morse away from Jackson.
It is not yet known what happened
before the tourist began video-taping.
According to Jackson's attorney,
Joe Hopkins, the teenager and his father, Coby Chavis, had pulled
into the convenience store to gas up their car and so Jackson
could get some potato chips. When Jackson came out of the store
two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies were investigating
Chavis' car which had an expired registration.
Jackson asked what the deputies
were doing, and was told to stay back from the car.
A police spokesperson said
Jackson then lunged at one of the deputies. Jackson was arrested,
handcuffed and placed in the squad car.
When Inglewood officers arrived
on the scene, Jackson stood up. A deputy grabbed him by the neck
and the city officers began beating Jackson, Hopkins said.
Hopkins said Jackson had worn
a heavy chain around his neck and that the officers dragged him
by it until it broke.
Video Tells Only Part
Of Story
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion
Daily Express, July 17, 2002
INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA--The
stories behind the July 6 beating of Donovan Jackson are beginning
to reveal much more than the video-tape shows.
Jackson, 16, was handcuffed
by Inglewood police when a tourist video-taped officer Jeremy
Morse lifting Jackson from the ground, slamming him onto the
trunk of a squad car and then punching the teen in the face.
The incident has been replayed
on television news programs across the country. Some have mentioned
that Jackson has a developmental disability and is a student
in a special education program. Most focus on the fact that Morse
is white and Jackson is black, comparing the incident to the
videotaped police beating of Rodney King Jr, in 1991.
Jackson reportedly came out
of a convenience store to find Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies
investigating an expired registration on a car that belongs to
Jackson's father. The deputies said that Jackson assaulted them
after he was told to sit in a squad car.
Inglewood police, including
officer Morse, arrived on the scene and attempted to hand-cuff
Jackson.
That's when Mitchell Crooks
heard screams and began videotaping the incident from across
the street. His two-minute recording captured images of Morse
striking the hand-cuffed teen.
Over the weekend, Inglewood
officer Bijan Darvish reported that he, too, punched Jackson
in the face two times before the teenager was hand-cuffed.
"I yelled at Jackson to
let go of my uniform; however, he refused," Darvish said
in the report signed by himself and officer Morse. "Fearing
that Jackson would pull me into him and strike me with his other
hand, I punched him two times in the face, using my right hand,"
said Darvish.
Jackson's attorney, Joe Hopkins,
told the Los Angeles Times he believed that two other officers
"took turns" beating his client before the videotape
began.
Last Thursday, Crooks was arrested
after police found that he had drunk driving, hit-and-run and
petty theft charges stemming from a night of reckless behavior
in Los Angeles three years ago.
The Los Angeles Times reported
on Monday that more than a dozen complaints of excessive force
have been filed against Inglewood officers in recent years. Those
claims reportedly included police breaking noses, knocking out
teeth or otherwise mistreating arrestees. Many of the alleged
victims said they were assaulted by the officers after verbally
challenging them or not immediately doing what they were told.
None of the accused officers
have been charged with crimes, in part because the Inglewood
Police Department has not referred any of the cases to the district
attorney's office.
Officers In Jackson's
Arrest Sue City For Discrimination
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion
Daily Express, February 18, 2003
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA--Two
Inglewood police officers involved in the July arrest of 16-year-old
Donovan Jackson have filed a lawsuit against the town claiming
reverse discrimination.
Jackson, who is black and reportedly
has a developmental disability, was arrested for assaulting officers
outside a convenience store when asked to sit in a squad car.
A videotape of the arrest,
showing officer Jeremy Morse slamming a hand-cuffed Jackson onto
the back of a patrol car and repeatedly punching him in the face,
was broadcasted by television news stations across the country.
Morse was fired from the Inglewood
Police Department and charged with assault. Officer Bijan Darvish
was suspended and charged with filing a false police report.
Both have pleaded not guilty to the charges. They are suing to
get their jobs back and for compensatory damages.
In their suit, Morse and Darvish
claimed the city treated them unfairly because they are white.
They said that a black officer who struck Jackson with his flashlight
was suspended for only four days and faced no criminal charges.
Morse and Darvish accused the city of disciplining them based
on political pressure rather than department policy.
The videotaped scene reminded
many of the well-known 1991 police beating of Rodney King Jr.
Four officers accused in King's videotaped beating were later
acquitted, sparking violent riots in Los Angeles.
Officer's Lawyer
Accuses Donovan Jackson Of Lying About Video-Taped Arrest
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion
Daily Express, January 12, 2005
INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA--A lawyer
representing an Inglewood Police officer is accusing a teenager
with developmental disabilities of deliberately lying to juries
about his treatment during a video-taped arrest 2 1/2 years ago.
Donovan Jackson was arrested
on July 6, 2002 for attacking officers Bijan Darvish and Jeremy
Morse outside a convenience store after he had been asked to
sit in a squad car while his father was issued a ticket for expired
license tabs. An amateur videotape of the arrest, showing officer
Morse slamming the hand-cuffed 16-year-old onto the back of a
patrol car and repeatedly punching him in the face, was broadcast
on television news stations around the world.
Officer Morse was fired and
charged with using excessive and unnecessary force. Those assault
charges were dropped last February after two separate trials
ended in hung juries.
Officer Darvish was suspended
and charged with filing a false police report. He was later acquitted
on that charge.
The Daily Breeze has reported
that attorney Corey W. Glave, representing Darvish, asked Los
Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley last Friday to
investigate Jackson for up to seven counts of perjury.
Jackson's inconsistent testimony
-- about which officer struck him, how many times he was struck,
whether he followed officers' instructions, and whether he was
unconscious during parts of the arrest -- was believed to have
been the primary reason for the hung juries.
In a letter to Cooley, Glave
claimed that Jackson's conflicting testimony had nothing to do
with innocent mistakes or him having trouble remembering the
event. Instead, Cooley argued, the perjury charges and evidence
"indicate the calculated, malicious effort of this young
man to obstruct justice and mislead finders of fact in order
to obtain financial gains."
Jackson's family has said they
believe the teen may have responded slowly to officers' orders
because of his disabilities.
During one trial, a special
education coordinator testified that Jackson's disabilities affect
how he processes information, making it difficult for him to
follow directions, remember events and to express himself.
Assault Charges Dropped Against Officer
Morse In Donovan Jackson Arrest
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion
Daily Express, February 6, 2004
INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA--Prosecutors
have decided to drop charges against former Inglewood police
officer Jeremy Morse -- who was accused of assaulting a teenager
with developmental disabilities -- now that a second trial has
ended in a hung jury.
The jury last week could not
resolve a 6-6 deadlock. Morse's first trial last July also ended
in a hung jury, with 7 jurors voting for conviction.
"I'm convinced that the
chances of reaching a unanimous decision either way is virtually
nil," said Superior Court Judge William Hollingsworth Jr
as he dismissed the case Friday.
Morse was accused of using
excessive and unnecessary force when he and Officer Bijan Darvish
arrested Donovan Jackson on July 6, 2002. Jackson was being arrested
for attacking the officers outside a convenience store after
he had been asked to sit in a squad car while his father was
issued a ticket for expired license tabs.
A videotape of the arrest,
showing officer Morse slamming the hand-cuffed 16-year-old onto
the back of a patrol car and repeatedly punching him in the face,
was broadcast on television news stations around the world.
Morse was fired from the Inglewood
Police Department and charged with assault. Darvish was suspended
and charged with filing a false police report.
Jackson, now 18, testified
in the second trial that he was sitting in the squad car, but
got scared and stood up when he saw several officers running
toward him. His family said the teenager may have responded slowly
to officers' orders because of his disability.
Jackson also testified that
the officers beat him, struck him with a flashlight and choked
him until he passed out. He said he did not try to scratch, hit
or kick any of the officers.
Defense attorney John Barnett
pointed out several inconsistencies between Jackson's statements
to a grand jury and his testimony during the trials.
The videotaped scene reminded
many of the well-known 1991 police beating of Rodney King Jr.
Four officers accused in King's videotaped beating were later
acquitted, sparking violent riots in Los Angeles.
Morse, who is white, could
have been sentenced to three years in prison if he had been convicted
of assaulting Jackson, who is black.
Community activist: 'These
officers were both guilty'
CNN, July 9, 2003
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN)
--A California judge declared a hung jury Tuesday in the case
against a white former officer who punched and slammed a handcuffed
black teenager onto a squad car during a videotaped arrest. CNN
correspondent Dan Lothian talked with a community activist and
the man who caught the beating on tape to get their reaction.
LOTHIAN: Standing here with me is Najee Ali,
a community activist who has been involved not only in this case,
attending every day of the trial, but also being involved in
keeping the peace in the community.
First of all, your reaction
to the verdicts, or the nonverdict in one case today?
ALI: I'm outraged, and I'm very upset. These officers
were both guilty, and they should have been found guilty. So
it's a slap in the face. And this is really Rodney King all over
again. Here we go again.
LOTHIAN: What do you think was the confusion
for some members of the jury that they were not able to see what
you saw or what you think you saw on that videotape?
ALI: It shouldn't be any confusion. But I say white
America sees things differently than black America. This is Rodney
King all over again, where the whole world saw Rodney King beat
on tape and [in this case] Donovan Jackson beat on videotape.
Yet once again we see things differently with two different verdicts.
LOTHIAN: Were you surprised, though, that they
couldn't even reach a verdict? Because it seemed to me that the
pulse of community activists early on throughout this trial was
that the prosecution was not really presenting a strong case
and that this was a slam dunk for the defense.
ALI: Well, I'm not surprised as far as Bijan Darvish
because the prosecution's efforts were weak and they made no
effort to really even try this man. So we sat through the last
few days wondering why this guy [is] even down here if he's not
going to be prosecuted?
LOTHIAN: Where do you go from here as a community
activist? There is certainly anger. But what is the next level
that you feel in your mind you can receive justice?
ALI: Well, it's not over with. This case is not over
with. We want to demand that [Los Angeles County District Attorney]
Steve Cooley retry Officer [Jeremy] Morse. We want to make sure
that he is retried by competent prosecutors; that he's brought
to justice because he beat that kid and was really crazy.
[Amateur videographer] Mitchell
Crooks is the only one that was put in jail, the man that shot
the videotape. He's a hero. And the criminal was found not guilty
by a hung jury.
LOTHIAN: Now, obviously, throughout this anger
and these feelings that you have right now, you also want to
send a clear message to the community. You've been doing that
throughout this trial. And what is that message?
ALI: That -- let not one bottle or brick be thrown.
You can be angry. But let's be angry in a controlled manner and
make sure that we keep the peace. So we're not going to tear
our own neighborhoods up. We're going to get justice, though.
We're going to keep fighting.
LOTHIAN: Mitchell, you shot the videotape.
If it wasn't for that videotape, we probably would not be here
today. Your thoughts?
CROOKS: I'm not surprised by the outcome at
all. I knew that the prosecution was blowing the case. They didn't
ask me to testify. They didn't ask the 20 people on the videotape
to testify ... So I just knew what the outcome was going to be.
I knew by the way that they handled my situation that they were
not serious about trying this case.
I'm not surprised at all. We
still brought the issue of police brutality to the public, and
it ain't going away. People are going to go out there with their
cameras and they're going to film police because it's the most
nonviolent way to get your point across.
LOTHIAN: I'm wondering, when you caught what
you got on videotape, did you think that once this went to trial
with that videotape, that it would pretty much be a slam dunk
case? That it was on videotape, so there was only one way that
people could judge it.
CROOKS: I knew that the public knew. I knew
that the media knew. I knew that people all around knew and they
saw that videotape worldwide. So I know that they all could see
for themselves what he did.
The boy was in handcuffs. He
was in handcuffs and he was subdued already and he was not resisting
arrest. And, I mean, I'm not surprised. I'm just not surprised.
I knew the outcome.
LOTHIAN: Najee, once again, there's a lot of
media presence here. We see a lot of security. Police are circling
around in helicopters.
But I know, more than anything
else, and you've mentioned this before, that you want everyone
to contain whatever anger that they have. What would be your
message to people, not only in the Inglewood community, but in
other communities around here who might be upset, what they perceive
to be injustice in these verdicts?
ALI: Well, they have a right to be upset and they
should be angry. I'm very angry. But I'm going to control my
anger and make sure it's not [channeled] in a destructive manner.
We're going to make sure that we stay [vigilant]. We're going
to make sure that we demand that Jeremy Morse is reprosecuted
for his crime of police brutality.
Protests over US police
beating
BBC, July 13 , 2002
Protesters are planning more
demonstrations
Hundreds of demonstrators have
marched in Los Angeles to demand that a white police officer
who beat a black teenager be arrested and charged with assault.
While people
are properly outraged... it has not gotten out of control as
of yet--John Mack, Community leader
The protest follows the videotaped arrest of 16-year-old Donovan
Jackson, during which he was punched in the face and slammed
onto the side of a patrol car.
The peaceful protest outside
the Inglewood police headquarters was described by the organisers
as a unity rally.
Several high-profile members
of America's black community are expected to attend another rally
on Saturday.
'Justified
force'
Carrying banners with slogans
such as "This happens every day in LA" and '"No
justice, no peace, no racist police", the demonstrators
called for an independent investigation into the beating.
They said the way in which
Donovan was arrested amounted to criminal behaviour. And they
demanded that the white officer, Jeremy Morse, be arrested and
charged with assault.
Officer Morse has been suspended
on full pay while the local police investigate the incident.
The FBI is also conducting
an investigation.
Officer Morse's lawyer says
he used justified force in detaining Donovan, saying the youth
had grabbed the policeman's testicles while his hands were handcuffed
behind his back.
But that argument cut no ice
with the demonstrators.
"The community wants justice,
and we won't rest until we get justice," said one protester.
"We want to make sure
the investigation is swift and thorough, but we believe that
those officers should be punished, fired and some of them criminally
prosecuted."
'Nothing has
changed'
The main speaker at the rally
was Martin Luther King III, the son of America's most famous
civil rights leader.
"Over 30 years ago we
were dealing with these issues of poverty, racism, violence and
police brutality and misconduct," he told the crown.
The case has similarities with
that of Rodney King.
"Thirty-five years later
we are still dealing with the same problems."
But he had praise for the way
in which black people in Los Angeles had responded to the beating
of Donovan Jackson.
"However tragic the conditions
may be, I first want to commend the leadership of this community
for bringing this community together," he said.
Another speaker referred to
the fears that the beating of Donovan could trigger a repeat
of the 1992 race riots in Los Angeles.
Fifty-four people died in the
troubles, which began after four police officers were cleared
of assaulting Rodney King.
Video footage had shown Mr
King being beaten by the officers.
"While people are properly
outraged in the community, as well they should be, it has not
gotten out of control as of yet," the executive director
of the Los Angeles Urban League, John Mack, said.
Prison
The man who took the video
of Donovan Jackson's beating, Mitchell Crooks, on Friday started
a seven-month jail sentence.
He had been avoiding the authorities
in northern California where he had been found guilty of drunk
driving and petty theft.
He was detained after turning
up at a television studio to be interviewed about the Donovan
Jackson beating.
LA Cameraman fears for
his life'
BBC, July 11, 2002
The case has sparked widespread
outrage
A bystander who videotaped
a Los Angeles policeman punching a handcuffed black teenager
in the face has said he fears for his life.
Mitchell Crooks told a radio
show he was worried the police would be "coming after"
him if he revealed his whereabouts.
They're going to kick my ass
in a cell and take turns on me
Prosecutors told Mr Crooks on the air that he was being subpoenaed
to appear before a grand jury investigating the case on Thursday.
The incident has caused outrage
after Mr Crooks's video was repeatedly shown on national television.
Black leaders and the mayor
of the LA suburb of Inglewood have called for the officer involved
- Jeremy Morse - to be sacked and charged with assault.
The video shows Officer Morse
slam 16-year-old Donovan Jackson on to the bonnet of a police
car at a petrol station in Inglewood.
The officer is then seen to
hit the teenager in the face.
Fearful
Mr Crooks told the radio show
over the phone that he feared police would be "coming after
me because I shot the video".
Jackson's lawyer said his client
deserved damages
Deputy District Attorney Kurt
Livesay, who was also taking part in the programme, told Mr Crooks
that prosecutors wanted him to appear before a grand jury and
for him to hand over the video tape.
Mr Crooks said he wanted to
co-operate but he feared for his life.
"They're going to kick
my ass in a cell and take turns on me probably," he said.
He hung up when Mr Livesay
asked him to tell investigators where he was.
'Self-defence'
Local law enforcement agencies
and the FBI have opened inquiries into what happened at the petrol
station on Saturday.
Inglewood police say Officer
Morse was attacked by Mr Jackson before he hit him in self-defence.
The videotape begins just before
Officer Morse throws the teenager on to the car.
Mr Jackson and his father,
Coby Chavis, who was with him at the time of the incident, have
filed a federal lawsuit against two law enforcement agencies
and several officers in the case.
Mr Jackson's lawyer, John Sweeney,
said he believed his client should receive seven-figure damages.
Officer Morse has been on leave
with full pay since Monday.
The case - and a similar incident
videotaped in Oklahoma on Monday - have revived memories of the
1991 beating by white LA officers of black motorist Rodney King.
The subsequent acquittal of
four officers on criminal charges led to widespread rioting,
which left 54 people dead.
|
Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
