Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 21, 1991 TAG: 9103210166
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In New York City, indictments of five police officers were announced Wednesday in the choking death of a car-theft suspect, prompting the police chief to issue guidelines for handling suspects.
"A police officer cannot break the law in order to enforce it," Chief Lee P. Brown told reporters.
In Tennessee, jurors deliberated in a case against three deputies charged in the death of a drug suspect. And in Washington, Congress held hearings on police brutality.
The latest uproar over police brutality began with the March 3 beating of motorist Rodney G. King in Los Angeles, captured blow-by-blow on videotape by a neighborhood resident.
In an appearance before the City Council, Police Chief Daryl Gates defended his department and showed no intention of resigning. He did concede some failings, however, and promised a "brick-by-brick" analysis of training.
"We are devastated by this," A police officer cannot break the law in order to enforce it. Lee P. Brown New York City police chief Gates told the council. "We are devastated because this is a good department." However, he added, "We do fail."
Before Gates appeared, several people complained of brutal, racist police officers.
The case has had repercussions across the country. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh has ordered a nationwide review of police-brutality cases. And the case has put police beatings around the country under heightened scrutiny.
In New York, five officers were indicted on charges of choking 21-year-old Frederico Pereira to death while he lay face-down with his hands cuffed behind his back.
"This is unconscionable and unacceptable behavior by police officers," Pereira's mother, Laura Nieves, said at a news conference at the offices of the family's attorney, who said he is filing $155 million lawsuit against the city.
Pereira died during a 15-minute struggle Feb. 5 as police removed him from a car.
A police investigation found the officers acted properly. But the city's medical examiner ruled the death a homicide, saying Pereira died of asphyxiation resulting from compression of the neck or chest.
Queens District Attorney John Santucci said a grand jury had indicted five officers accused of murder, manslaughter, assault and depraved indifference to human life.
Laura Nieves said she was haunted by the videotape of the Los Angeles beating:
" . . . I walked away from the television set. I could not believe what I was seeing. It put ideas in my head. This guy survived this brutal beating. It made me wonder what my son went through."
A New York newspaper reported Wednesday that a complaint had been filed against the Police Department alleging two officers beat a handcuffed teen-ager who is deaf and cannot speak.
The officers allegedly beat the youth because he wouldn't answer their questions, Newsday reported.
In Memphis, a jury deliberated in the case of three sheriff's deputies charged in the death of a drug suspect. A federal prosecutor charged that the three had kicked and beat the man even when other officers urged them to stop.
by CNB