Three investigations have been launched into police officers' tactics in dispersing a crowd at an immigration rally, where authorities wielded batons and fired rubber bullets into crowds.
Police Chief William J. Bratton said Wednesday the public has "an absolute and unqualified right to expect and demand an aggressive review" of the events at MacArthur Park late Tuesday, when officers fired 240 "nonlethal" rounds to clear demonstrators.
"The events of (Tuesday), with all (the training) that we do, should not have occurred," Bratton said at a tense news conference.
News images showed police hitting a television cameraman to the ground, shoving people who were walking away from officers and injuries from the rubber bullets.
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| ©KVEA, Telemundo |
| KCAL cameraman Carl Stein after being knocked to the ground by LAPD while reporting on the rally. |
Rally organizers denounced the police action as brutal.
"They were pushing children, elderly, mothers with their babies and beating up on the media" said Angela Sanbrano, an organizer.
The clashes started around 6 p.m. Tuesday, when police tried to disperse demonstrators who moved into a street, according to rally organizers and reporters. Authorities said several people threw rocks and bottles at officers, who used batons to push the crowd back to the sidewalk and then cleared the park.
A police order to disperse was in English and from a police helicopter, a likely ineffective tactic because of the noise and because many at the protest were Spanish-speakers, Bratton said.
Bratton said police were initially trying to deal with 50 to 100 "agitators."
"The individuals were there to provoke police," Bratton said. "Unfortunately, they got what they came for."
Police union leaders urged against a "rush to judgment."
"Our officers gave a legal dispersal order and were met with violence. In the coming days it will become clear what transpired," said Los Angeles Police Protective League President Bob Baker in a statement.
Seven officers suffered minor injuries, and another was pushed off his motorcycle, Bratton said. About 10 other people were treated for minor injuries, though authorities expected the number to rise.
The investigations already under way include an overall departmental review of tactics, an internal affairs investigation into the behavior of the officers and commanders on the scene, and an independent review by the Inspector General, the investigative arm of the Police Commission, which sets policy for the Police Department.
John Mack, president of the five-member Police Commission, said he was "deeply disturbed and very disappointed" by the news images.
"This was not a pretty picture. This incident raises serious concern regarding the use of force by some individual officers," said Mack, who is one of Bratton's bosses.
Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian NuInez, who represents the park district, also asked Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley to launch an independent investigation into the officers' actions.
He said police deliberately led troublemakers back to the peaceful marchers before beginning their assault.
"The only logical conclusion I can come to is that somebody wanted it to bleed into the march so that they can do some target practice on some of the immigrants that were marching," Nunez said.
News organizations also condemned the Police Department for its use of batons and riot guns against members of the media.
"We are sorry for what happened to our employees and find it unacceptable that they would be abused in that way when they were doing their job," said Alfredo Richard, spokesman for the Spanish-language network Telemundo, whose anchor and reporter were hurt.
Bratton promised to investigate the treatment of reporters.
"We should never be engaged in attacking anyone in the media," Bratton said.
Comments below about the police brutality, from:
http://cbs2.com/misc/local_story_122211730.html
Journalists, Officials Talk About Protest Violence
(AP) "To me it was like all of a sudden I was not in Los Angeles or in California, I was in a country of real conflict where we see it every day on TV and we wonder, 'Oh wow! How can they treat people like that?' Well, it happened in the USA."
-- Telemundo 52 reporter Maria Garcia.
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| ©KVEA, Telemundo |
| LAPD welcomes hispanics to Amerika |
"I'm sore and I'm sore about what happened. It was like open season -- take a whack, have at it."
-- Carl Stein, a KCAL 9 cameraman who was thrown to the ground.
"Finally at one point, we weren't moving fast enough I guess, some cop takes a club and jabs Carl hard in the ribs with it. He goes flying in one direction, the camera goes the other -- it bounces on the lawn. As he's trying to get up, I go over to the camera to try and pick it up and I've got it in my one hand and as I'm starting to get up the cop hits me in the back and I go down nose first in the grass. About this time I get up and ask who's in charge of the operation here and nobody's talking."
-- KCAL 9 reporter Mark Coogan.
"My responsibility and obligation as chief of police is to investigate what happened, why it happened and to address and correct identified problems and issues, and in this instance to specifically focus on command and control of our officers, our strategic planning efforts and tactics, and most importantly our significant use of force while attempting to address disruptive actions of 50 to 100 agitators who were part of the larger group of thousands of peaceful demonstrators."
-- William Bratton, speaking at a City Hall news conference.
"As Chief Bratton says, 'sometimes policing isnt pretty and there is little if any time for reflection and discussion before action.' The clash at MacArthur Park started when officers tried to disperse demonstrators who had moved off the sidewalk onto the street. Several people at the rally threw rocks and bottles at officers. Our officers gave a legal dispersal order and were met with violence. In the coming days it will become clear what transpired. Until then there should be no rush to judgment."
-- Bob Baker, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League.
"Fox Television Stations is concerned by the actions of the Los Angeles Police Department during yesterday's demonstration in MacArthur Park. While trying to cover the events, KTTV-FOX 11 reporter Christina Gonzales and camera person Patti Ballaz suffered serious injuries as a result of actions by the LAPD."
-- Jack Abernethy, chief executive officer of Fox Television Stations.
"Video footage, second-hand reporting and first-person accounts by reporters and crews for several broadcast outlets strongly suggest that officers may have overreacted and assaulted news personnel who were either appropriately attempting to cover a breaking news story, or were attempting to comply with police orders to clear the area."
-- Statement from the board of directors of the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
"There is evidence that officers knocked reporters to the ground, used batons on photographers and damaged cameras, possibly motivated by anger over journalists photographing efforts by officers to control the movements of marchers."
-- Statement from the Radio and Television News Association.
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| ©KVEA, Telemundo |
| A victim's wound after being shot by rubber bullets at the rally |
"Shooting rubber bullets or foam bullets at innocent bystanders is not the way to contain a bad situation. Clearly, there's no reports of anybody brandishing a gun and shooting at the police, so it wasn't like somebody's life was in danger when this all happened. But yet the LAPD found it necessary to put women and children in danger as they were in pursuit of a couple of bad apples."
-- California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez.
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What this was, I think, was a big nudge toward more racial unrest in LA. The LAPD pulls this stuff on a regular basis in the inner cities. The only difference here is that it was on a larger scale and in front of new cameras.
That should send shivers down all of our spines. They beat up innocent people, many of whom were desperately trying to get out of the park and were clubbed in the back or shot with rubber bullets, and they did it on camera. Clearly, they have no fear. Perhaps this was just testing the waters. How much of this brutality can they get away with and still have the majority of the population just go back to work and forget anything happened?
You know how you might wave your hand and snap your fingers near someone to see if they are asleep? I think this was like that. Just how asleep are we? How much brutality can we overlook?