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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.
Quote of the Day !
Please define "capping" an unarmed Teenager then? (Or any unarmed Citizen for that matter?)
I said from what I had heard, they would have been justified in capping the creep.
Key word being from what you Heard , what exactly is it that you heard, And who from? Are you privy to some Information the rest of us aren't?
I also understand that the tape was edited before release, much as the rodney king tape had been edited, so it didn't show king getting back up on his feet after he was hit with two tasers, and lunging at the cops.
You understand this from who? And If it was "edited" how are you to determine that it was Edited by the guy that took the video and not the "news stations"? From what I saw yesterday I saw the Video from beginning when the camera guy had some of it pointing at the ground (trying to position himself) all the way until the Kid was in the Cop car, It didn't appear to be edited to me. But then again, IF it was, how are you to know "WHO" did the editing? You are going based on Hearsay, You yourself have admitted as much as not even seeing the tape in question.
Of course, I think LA should be given back to the mexicans, so that the liberals out there could really experience some Napolenic justice.
I disagree with you there also, but that's for another thread! (Post under the immigration threads for this debate!) LOL
I didn't call him a liar, you did.
No one appointed you judge and jury of that cop's fate, sir, and it is not an endorsement of "police brutality," as you so primly and dishonestly put it, to insist that every piece of evidence, not simply the videotape you find so conclusive, be evaluated to determine whether the cop's actions were justified. And yeah, my "choice" of opinion is, you're anti-cop.
Yeah, like five days. Good thing you're not the one to evaluate the "story."
BTW I get along great with 90% of cops, certain bully cops and I did not like each other when I was young (now my sheeps cloths are near perfected). They did'nt like me because they never caught me doing anything and I had a smart mouth. They also knew who my friends were (having beatin the living s@#+ out of three of them) and hence knew I might have had something to do with all the golfballs driven at the station parking lot (my slice at the time would not have made me much help).
Yeah, I know. "Some of my best friends are cops..but I had some bad experiences [etc.]" Tell somebody who cares.
Try this exercise. Put your hands behind your back. See how far you can reach. He would have had to have been right behind him for the kid to reach.
So it was impossible for the kid to do what the cop says he did? Why not say so? Then we'll let Johnnie Cochran do a live demonstration in court.
Gee, its hard to figure out who to despise more, the stupid cops who think they can violate the law at will as long as no one is looking, the scumbag perpetrator who resisted arrest by allegedly grabbing testicles, or this "Crooks" who is a crook himself and who will probably end up with only a few million dollars less than the scrotum grabber.
No thanks, couldn't pay be enough to be a cop. No way....
The kid's attorney stated yesterday that he was considered mentally impaired/retarded.
I've been cuffed; I have longer arms than the arrestee did
Not to mention the fact that is someone does grab one's testicles, the natural reaction is to pull back away from the person, and use hands/arms to get them to release
The LAPD union needs to spring for a better breed of attorney--the guy the cop hired is just pathetic.
I do not understand why anyone needs to "authenticate the Tape Recording".
I'm sorry, I'm NOT buying this, A) that child was lifeless when he was picked up, I read today that he was knocked out cold.
The donut muncher would have had to have been humping the perp like a dog for the perp to have been able to reach.
Would'nt a prudent cop, at least, wear a jock strap when on duty? I know I would.
As far as I'm concerned, anything the police say (post Waco and Ruby Ridge) is a lie until they prove otherwise.
You're honest at least. And you're voicing a sentiment a lot of cops feel civilians have. Just remember one thing: deny a cop his due process rights under the constitution, and it won't be long before the ones you enjoy will be forfeit, civilian.
To the cops out there, I don't know how you put up with all this anti-cop BS. I've never had any trouble from a cop because I've never given one trouble---it's amazing how civil and gracious you cops are when you're treated with a modicum of respect---almost like you want to be nice and helpful.
Neither are you. BTW what I delt with was more then a simple bad experiance. It was a bully cop who was convinced I was a criminal and was out to get me. I can still tell you the SOBs name and where he worked (but I will not). He wanted to catch me doing something for years. It clearly frustrated him that I was smarter them him. I admit I teased him once or twice (made it seem like I was up to something, I actually am the last true innocent).
Officer M belonged in prison. I'm fairly certain he's not a cop anymore as he was holding on to his job by his fingernails (and paying 1/3 of his salary to pay for his own bond). Don't expect he can survive in the age of the camcorder.
You are so right. And I've never forgiven the Japs for Pearl Harbor, either. /sarc
Trial lawyers actually know where the dumbest juries in America reside, and bring their most outrageous cases in those jurisdictions(Miami and the flight attendant smoking case, for example).
No thanks, couldn't pay be enough to be a cop. No way....
My sentiments exactly. Joseph Wambaugh spoke of the "thin blue line" of police separating civilized society from barbarism. I'm definitely getting the impression that people either don't understand or have forgotten what life under siege from violent criminals is like, and hence don't understand what cops are for, what they do, or what risks they face. I'm also getting the impression that they're plenty of people out there who for whatever reason have "issues" with cops, and dislike them instinctually. Either way, not a hell of a lot of incentive anymore for people to become cops or to stay cops.
Sleeping, watching a bit of TV, taking a shower, maybe even smoking a Camel. What do you do in motel rooms?
A conservative is a Libertarian that hasn't been beaten by Jack Booted Thugs yet. This was inexcusable and indefensible. I ran the tape frame by frame many times (I love my TiVo!) and there is no way this goon got his 'nads grabbed.
LA deserves to burn if they cannot find a jury to put this jackass in prison.
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