Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 8, 1991 TAG: 9103080026
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
Videotapes have become the basis for lawsuits seeking millions from police departments.
George Holliday's test of his new video camera early Sunday captured Los Angeles officers using a stun gun and repeatedly clubbing Rodney King, a motorist stopped for a traffic violation. The tape made the news on all the networks this week.
King's lawyer, Robert Rentzer, said the videotape alone provides the evidence needed for a successful lawsuit.
Police Chief Daryl Gates asked Thursday that criminal charges be filed against three of his officers. He said the department would work with the district attorney's office.
The chief said his entire 8,300-member force shouldn't be "tarred" by the actions of a few. And in response to people asking him to resign, Gates said: "I have absolutely no thought of resigning."
The FBI said it wouldn't discuss its investigation of possible civil rights violations.
Without the video of King's beating, TV network news producers said they doubted it would have become a national story.
Cameras have been responsible for the undoing of other officers.
Home video cameras captured New York City police during a bloody 1988 riot with demonstrators in Tompkins Square Park. Authorities said the videos showed officers apparently using excessive force.
In another California case, a trial is under way for two Long Beach policemen charged in the case of black activist Don Jackson, who was beaten during a traffic stop in 1989. The video shows an officer smashing Jackson's head through a window.
In nearby San Bernardino County last year, five people who accused sheriff's deputies of beating them at a party won a $735,000 settlement of their brutality lawsuit. A neighbor's home video showed fist-swinging deputies.
Another amateur video was the basis for a $10 million civil claim still pending against Laguna Beach. The tape shows a police officer kicking Kevin Dunbar outside a loud party last June.
A partygoer in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance videotaped the 1988 arrest of Thomas Tice, 20, who was restrained by one officer while another hit him eight times with a baton. He split $105,000 with five other people in a settlement with police.
An elite narcotics squad of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department was the target of a federal operation that depended heavily on hidden video camera evidence to win convictions in December for skimming drug money.
by CNB