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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 12, 1993                   TAG: 9303120189
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES                                LENGTH: Short

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EXPERT SAYS POLICE HURT KING'S FACE

An expert in body trauma cast strong doubt Thursday on the claims of four Los Angeles police officers that Rodney King's head injuries were the result of hard falls to the pavement.

"That kind of depression is not caused by a fall to the ground," Dr. Harry L. Smith said of King's fractured right cheekbone. "That is caused by a baton."

Smith, a prosecution witness, is a radiologist with a specialty in body mechanics - the science of analyzing forces on the body.

No such expert testified for the prosecution at the officers' state trial last year. Now they are on trial in federal court, charged with violating King's civil rights by using unreasonable force in beating him after a traffic stop in 1991.

In cross-examination, Michael Stone, Officer Laurence Powell's attorney, challenged Smith on whether King could have received his injuries in a fall.

"The patterns and associated injuries I have discussed today are not caused or causable by a fall," said Smith. "These are baton injuries."

Defense lawyers say King was never hit in the face or head intentionally, and that those injuries were suffered during falls.

- Wire reports

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