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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.
Silly me, I always thought it was the place of the courts to do that...
A whole bunch of problems would have been solved.
That was the only problem with Rodney King, they didn't cap him when they had the chance.
Their where several points in that little scenario where they would have been jiustified.
I haven't seen the tape, but from what I hear they would have probably been justified capping this dude prior to the tapping session.
The serving of a simple subpoena is an administration of justice
I was expecting this. Criticize a cop, no matter how justified, and you're anti-police. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect police not to brutalize people. Knee-jerk defense of cops no matter what is far more damaging than wanting to see the bad ones off the force.
I never said it was.....I characterized it as an administration of justice.
Going around in circles like this is making me dizzy
The cop's attorney? You think he made up the "excuse," as you call it? Careful, pal---you're transferring your feelings of hatred for cops to this lawyer the cop has hired.
Let's see what develops of this, son, and we'll see who's the idiot. ;-)
He was cuffed. The donut muncher would have had to have been humping the perp like a dog for the perp to have been able to reach. (Perhaps the cop was, could be a dominance thing, cops are strange like that.)
Would'nt a prudent cop, at least, wear a jock strap when on duty? I know I would.
The guy with the camcorder is an object lesson to all the other camcorder owners out there. Don't point them at the cops unless you are squeeky clean.
Your post is DISGRACEFUL! Perhaps you should "watch the tape" before making any sort of comment, then to add insult to injury, you say that a retarded child should have been shot and killed. ( you are calling for the police to be Judge, Jury, and jackboots) I'm horrified by your post, to even speak of such things. Shame on you!!!
You , (to use your words) "probably" should view the evidence all of us are talking about, also "probably" should think before hitting the post button.
You get the respect you earn, from reading your post, its "0" at least from me.
I don't think it's decent to jump to conclusions about whether this cop was "brutalizing" someone. Kneejerk condemnation of cops no matter what is more the norm than "kneejerk defense" of them---thanks to 30+ years of politically correct media, education and politics. And yeah, I do think that's justly characterized as "anti-cop."
If that happens, IMO, he'll be broke in two years or so after he gets duped into 'investing' in a rap group record company and a night club.
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