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Posted on 07/11/2002 4:37:33 PM PDT by socal_parrot
By Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The man who videotaped a police beating near Los Angeles that enraged black leaders and then dodged a grand jury inquiry into the matter was arrested on Thursday as he prepared to grant a television interview.
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Crooks' arrest was videotaped and broadcast on local KCAL-TV, showing undercover officers hustling him into a sports utility vehicle with tinted windows outside the studios of CNN as the 27-year-old man repeatedly screamed for help.
Crooks had failed to appear on Thursday morning at Los Angeles Superior Court, where the grand jury was meeting, after telling a local radio program that he feared for his life.
"All we're doing is arresting him on the basis of a warrant," Los Angeles County District Attorney's spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said. "If there had not been a warrant, we would have escorted him to the grand jury."
"He is a witness and we need him to authenticate the tape recording, otherwise its value in court would be greatly diminished," Gibbons said. Crooks shot his videotape from a motel room across the street from the scene of the incident in Inglewood, which abuts south-central Los Angeles.
Crooks called a KFI-AM talk radio show hosted by John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou on Wednesday to discuss the case and said he was afraid that officers would be "coming after" him for videotaping the beating of 16-year-old Donovan Jackson.
'I FEAR FOR MY LIFE'
"I fear for my life," Crooks said. "They're going to kick my ass in a cell and take turns on me, probably."
Deputy District Attorney Kurt Livesay, who was also a guest on the show, then told Crooks over the air that authorities did not want to hurt him, and asked that he give his address to investigators. Instead, Crooks hung up the phone.
The videotape, first broadcast on Sunday, shows Inglewood Police Officer Jeremy Morse picking up Jackson and slamming him face-first onto a patrol car. Several seconds later, Morse is seen slugging Jackson in the face with a closed fist.
The tape sparked cries of racism and comparisons to the incendiary 1991 beating of Rodney King, which was also videotaped. The acquittal of four Los Angeles officers in that case led to the worst urban riots in modern U.S. history.
Several local law enforcement agencies and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were investigating the altercation between Jackson and Morse, a three-year veteran of the Inglewood Police Department. U.S. Attorney John Ashcroft ( news - web sites) sent his top civil rights deputy to Los Angeles on the case.
Jackson and his 41-year-old father, Coby Chavis, who was present during the incident, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on Wednesday against the officers involved in their arrest, the city of Inglewood and the County of Los Angeles.
Black leaders, including congresswoman Maxine Waters, a Democrat who represents the area, and Inglewood Mayor Roosevelt Dorn have called for Morse to be immediately fired and brought up on state or federal charges.
ATTORNEY: OFFICER DESERVES DUE PROCESS
But Morse's lawyer told Reuters in an interview that the 24-year-old officer had been condemned by public officials before all of the facts were known or the probes even begun.
"I think it's quite unfortunate that people who have sworn to defend and uphold the Constitution would ignore the presumption of innocence and find individuals guilty before there's even been a trial," attorney John Barnett said. "I thought we stopped doing that a couple hundred years ago."
Barnett, who also represented one of the officers acquitted in King's beating, said public officials were offering inappropriate assurances that his client was guilty.
"This very same thing happened (in the King case)," he said. "That's why it was such a big surprise when they were acquitted with tragic, tragic consequences."
Barnett said that Morse lifted Jackson from the ground and heaved him onto the car because the teen had let his legs go limp in an effort to resist.
"After his hands were cuffed, Jackson was able to reach out and grab my client's testicles," he said. "And on that occasion the punch was seen in order to make that activity cease."
In Oklahoma, meanwhile, civil rights activists called for immediate disciplinary action against two white police officers who were videotaped beating a prone black suspect with batons.
The officers, Greg Driskill and E.J. Dyer, were to remain on regular duty pending the results of a probe. Oklahoma City police have asked the FBI ( news - web sites) to investigate.
Dude, that's good! Scary, but good.
Do you always play the race card? Too bad because playing the race card is very passe.
Exactly how many ways are there to respond when someone grabs your testicles? If you can truthfully say that your first instinct in such a situation would be to rap that guy in the mouth, then you are a better man than anyone else.
I hope the piece of garbage hangs himself in his jail cell and leaves a signed confession.
Man's best friend. Although in football at the bottom of some piles I was in, I sometimes wondered if the cup (at it's angle) was the best thing going.
Well, remember. The allegation was grabbing WHILE HANDCUFFED which would probably not result in good contact, as you put it. Once in softball, I got nailed by the catcher making a sweep tag in an upward motion (while on the ground) when I crossed the plate. They had to wait a minute or so for me to get up from the left side batters box! But I can't think of any possible reaction to being grabbed there (or really anywhere else) other than moving away and using your hands to get free.
What planet are you from?
Or do I misunderstand you?
Now, my first instinct might be to rap the guy in the mouth, or it might be to rap the guy in the nose. Heck, it might be to rap the guy in the jaw, or shatter his cheekbone with an elbow. It might even be to kick him in the stomach. But I would say that knocking his teeth down his throat would be as good a first instinct as any. What other possible "first instincts" did you have in mind?
I thought they explained that pretty well - the kid went limp and refused to get off the ground. Ever try to hoist a 175-pound limp sack? Imagine an inert dummy, and that's exactly how I'd expect to see someone pick it up - a lift and hoist to gain momentum. Throw in a little more vigor perhaps than was required because of the heat of the moment and he bounces. It doesn't take much to bounce up off a trunk lid either.
And I guess that explains why he was in Inglewood - hiding out.
I've never given one trouble either, but if you've been pulled over lately, they are anything but nice and helpful.
Let's just do away with the police altoghether and give the streets completely over to the punks.
Let's start in your city.
A few bruises and cuts. In other words, about $10 million.
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