Man Who Taped Police Beating Arrested in L.A.

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.

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," 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.

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.

I heard it reported on the news (ABC, CBS or NBC) that the kid was unconscious. Which would explain why he appeared as dead weight when they picked him up and slammed him onto the car 242

Firstly this "kid" was not unconcious. If you view the tape you will see the "kid" speaking to or saying something to the MOS after being struck in the face.

I have watched the tape several times. Apparently you have limited reading comprehension "skill". I wrote about what happened prior to the kid punched in the face, not after -- which you failed to discern.

Secondly, Handcuffs do not stop backward motion, their purpose is to restrain physical attack by an agressor by restraining the ability to use both hands in a coordinated manner. If you have even been handcuffed you would realize that you would be able to reach backwards for a significant distance while cuffed.

Apparently you've just gone delusional. The only thing I wrote about in post 242 (see above) was the report of him being unconscious and I added that from point A (lying on the ground) to point B (when he was slammed on the car) he appeared limp like dead weight. Check your meds. ;^)

From the video it appears that the brother struck the perp for no reason, however appearances can be decieving. I have been grabbed by perps from time to time and depending on what they are holding onto, one is trained to step into the perp to get them to release.

Ummmm, thanks for your insights. Not that it has anything to do with the possibility that the kid was unconscious from point A to point B.

BTW, welcome aboard.

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."

Actually, they may have a good case..

I just watched the video about 12 times in a row, focusing carefully on different portions of the action each time to make sure I caught all details.

Jackson's legs *were* clearly limp. The cop first picked Jackson up off the ground (since it's hard to get up off the ground with your hands handcuffed behind your back), and set him on his feet. Instead of keeping his legs under tension, ready to have them take his weight as he's set down, Jackson lets his legs be completely limp -- they clearly swing and sway like a rag doll's.

The cop stands Jackson up vertical and begins walking forward with him.

Only 2-3 steps later (the cop's steps -- Jackson appears to still be letting his legs dangle as the cop half guides him, half carries him forward), Jackson drops about six inches. What he's doing with his legs can't be discerned now because they've just passed behind the rear of the car and the video can't see Jackson's legs.

Only then, after Jackson drops, does the cop yank Jackson upwards (like you would throw your strength into holding up something heavy that was falling, jerking it up to halt its drop), and swing Jackson over onto the car trunk.

Jackson hits moderately hard, but *not* as hard as if he had been intentionally slammed onto the trunk with full force by the cop. It's about as hard as you'd expect for having been dropped face first onto the trunk under your own weight without using your hands to break your fall, give or take.

The "trunk drop" *is* consistent with the cop's story. So is being tossed there out of spite, too, but at least the "he was falling, I dropped him on the trunk so he wouldn't go face first into the pavement" story is not out of the question. It looks plausible. The cop may have even tripped over Jackson's dangling feet and plopped him down on the trunk to regain his own balance so they both wouldn't go down.

What's really interesting is that at this point the cop looks a bit annoyed, and very definitely *not* angry. Nor was he looking angry when he picked up Jackson in the first place and turned him around to head him to the police car. He looked pretty bored, actually. Nor did he yank Jackson off the ground, or swing him around roughly.

And as soon as Jackson bonked down onto the trunk, the cop did nothing else aggressive. He just seemed to be holding Jackson to keep him from sliding down off the car, and says something to Jackson with an irritated but not angry expression. (Maybe "now cut that out" or somesuch).

Even Jackson didn't seem all that upset.

The black cop, who was facing away when the trunk incident occurred, turned back (when he heard the noise, apparently), and walked up to the first cop to talk to him. He appears to ask a "WTF?" question, and the first cop responds with something, then the black cop seems satisfied and walks around them both to the back of the car as if he considers it settled.

What happens next is a little hard to tell because the camera guy zooms in close enough that we can no longer see the cop's face.

About 40 seconds after the drop to the trunk, during which Jackson is conscious and active (contrary to some earlier posts), raising his head and turning it from left to right, and during which the cop is not abusing Jackson but instead is moving slowly and deliberately, we see Jackson's right arm lift up a few inches. But his hands are obscured by his body, so we can't tell quite where they are.

They are somewhere in the vicinity of the cop's groin, however, because the cop is standing close behind Jackson and leaning over him slightly, presumably to hold him and keep him from sliding off the trunk (or standing and running, perhaps).

About 2 seconds after Jackson's right arm lifts a few inches, the cop grabs the back of Jackson's neck with his left hand, and then after another 2 seconds he punches Jackson once.

*NOW* he looks pissed off all of a sudden. It doesn't seem to be a "boiling over of rage" at all, it looks like something just happened to suddenly enrage him towards Jackson. He yells at Jackson for a few seconds, then the incident is over and they pack Jackson into the car.

To me this seems very consistent with the lawyer's claims.

And the punch, especially, doesn't seem to be something that the cop had had any intention of doing up to that point. It wasn't like he was acting upset and had been on the verge of violence the whole time. It appeared to be triggered by something.

The testimony of the other cops will be crucial, because although they don't appear to have been able to see the cause for either the trunk drop or the punch, in both cases the cop in question appears to explain his actions to them.

Since they didn't know they were on video, he'd have had no reason to whip up a quick "for the press" excuse. He just thought he was telling his fellow officers what was happening. Even if the reason was "I don't like him", he'd probably have honestly just said so.

If he told them the "limp legs" and "he grabbed my crotch" stories at that time, that's most likely what happened. And I think a jury would acquit in that case.

Nor do I think the fellow officers would lie to cover up what happened if he had told them something different -- they are in no way involved in the altercation (unlike the other Rodney King officers), and would probably be more likely to flush away a bad cop than put their own necks on the line for a cop who's already nationally vilified as a violent racist.

Their necks aren't on the line -- in fact they have more to lose if they back him. So if they do back his story, it's because it's what really happened.

If the cop plea-bargains, however, it's because his story is bogus and his fellow officers are refusing to cover for him.

We'll have to wait and see.

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