ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 3, 1996 TAG: 9604030054
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
note: above
The FBI opened a civil rights investigation Tuesday into the videotaped clubbing of two illegal immigrants, and the Mexican government condemned the beating as a ``flagrant violation'' of the rights of its citizens.
Sheriff's deputies clubbed the immigrants Monday after chasing a battered pickup crammed with people suspected of sneaking across the border. TV news helicopters captured the beating on video in broad daylight.
During the chase, the pickup reached 100 mph, its shabby camper top disintegrating in the wind to reveal the people crammed inside.
``People inside were throwing things at officers in the chase and at other cars, hitting some of them,'' sheriff's Sgt. Mark Lohman said Tuesday.
The truck finally stopped on the side of the freeway and the passengers in back ran away.
One deputy, holding his baton two-handed like a baseball bat, was videotaped clubbing the driver on the back and shoulders, even as the driver fell, face down, on the ground.
When a woman got out of the cab, the same deputy beat her in the back with the baton, then grabbed her by the hair and pulled her to the ground. At least one other deputy struck her with his baton.
Neither person, both Mexicans, appeared to resist or attempt to get away from the white officers.
Andrian Flores Martinez, 26, the driver, had bruises and a possible broken elbow, authorities said. He was jailed, while 33-year-old Leticia Gonzalez, who was bruised on her face and arms, was released Tuesday to the custody of her lawyer, David Ross.
Police, who initially said the truck carried 21 people, said Tuesday that 17, besides the couple in the cab, were in the custody of the Immigration and Naturalization Service pending deportation proceedings.
Film of the beatings was shown repeatedly on television in Mexico and the United States, provoking a furious outcry from human rights groups.
The Sheriff's Department identified the deputies Tuesday as Tracy Watson and Kurtis Franklin and said both were suspended without pay. Franklin has been with the department for 20 years, Watson for five.
``I'm not going to stand up here and say that there was no force used, because you would laugh me out of the room,'' Lohman told reporters. ``We saw it. We saw the same videotape that everyone's seen, and we're embarrassed.''
Both the Los Angeles and Riverside sheriff's departments were investigating. The clubbing happened in South El Monte in Los Angeles County but the pursuit began in Riverside County.
Mexico's Department of Foreign Relations said it had ``expressed its indignation'' and ``energetically condemned this flagrant violation of the human rights of its nationals'' in a letter to the State Department.
The letter hinted at racism as a motive for the beating, saying it demonstrates the need to ``eradicate discriminatory attitudes that lead to acts of institutional violence.''
LENGTH: Medium: 61 linesby CNB