Thursday, July 11, 2002

Lessons From '92 Keep an Angry City Calm
"This beating was worse than Rodney King," said Mr. Ali, referring to the black man whose beating by four white police officers was videotaped a decade ago. "Rodney King was a grown man who was not handcuffed. This was a kid who was handcuffed and then slammed against the car and beaten."

John Mack, the president of the local Urban League branch, said: "It seems to me that some cops never learn. Clearly, the child had been subdued and posed no threat to them, and the other officers stood around watching almost like cheerleaders. The striking difference, however, is the way the Police Department and Mayor Dorn are handling it now. They're not stonewalling. They're saying something went very wrong."

The incident took place on Saturday when the teenager, Donovan Jackson, and his father were stopped at a gas station by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies because of an expired license plate on their car. A man watching from a motel across the street videotaped what happened after the younger Jackson had been handcuffed, a scene that has been shown repeatedly on television.

A white police officer, Jeremy Morse, hauled Donovan Jackson in the air and slammed him on the hood of the police cruiser, then hit him in the face with his fist.

The police said the teenager had resisted instructions to keep away from the car.

A number of people here said it was mere luck that the beating was caught on tape, adding that such brutality frequently takes place unchecked. Two white Oklahoma City police officers are under investigation after they were videotaped repeatedly hitting an unarmed man with batons as he lay on the ground.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/11/national/11POLI.html

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