|
Policeman
Accused Of Beating A Black Teenager Must Be Sacked, U.S. Protesters
 |
|
Protestors
in Inglewood, CA, call for the arrest and imprisonment of a
white police officer caught beating a black child on videotape |
LOS
ANGELES, July 13 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Protest leaders,
urging people to remain calm while the incident was investigated,
marched with hundreds of angry protesters through a Los Angeles suburb
Friday demanding that a white policeman caught on film beating a black
teenager during a violent arrest be immediately sacked.
"No
Justice, No Peace!" and "No racist police," the
protesters chanted as they marched from outside police headquarters in
suburban Inglewwod.
"Over
30 years ago, we were dealing with these issues of poverty, racism,
violence and police brutality and misconduct; 35 years later we are
still dealing with the same problems," said civil rights leader
Martin Luther King III, the son of slain 1960s civil rights activist
Martin Luther King Jr.
King
called it a case of racial profiling, which he called "a new name
for an old phenomenon," reports CNN.
But
that "This is not a black or white issue. This is a right and
wrong issue. And the issue of police brutality and misconduct is
wrong, no matter who conducts it. In this case, it was a white
officer, but let me tell you there are black officers who beat people
every day also."
Protesters
brandished signs with slogans such as "Power to the People,"
"Protest Racist Cop Attack," and "To Protect &
Serve, NOT Lie & Cover-Up," as speakers called for concrete
steps to be taken to respond to the beating that has revived the
specter of a 1991 police assault that led to race riots here.
Tensions
in this multi-ethnic metropolitan area have risen since Saturday, when
Inglewood officer Jeremy Morse was seen punching handcuffed
16-year-old Donovan Jackson and slamming him down on a car on a
videotape.
Morse
was put on paid leave Monday pending the outcome of an internal police
inquiry. Three other officers under investigation following the
incident have remained on duty. The protesters demanded they also be
suspended.
Commenting
on the suspension, King said, "We are not saying that these
officers should be put on some kind of leave. We're saying they should
be fired immediately."
Senior
black community leaders present at the march, including King and
activist and comedian Dick Gregory, who, Gregory said, would begin
fasting Friday night and continue until the case is resolved, also
urged the community to avoid violence.
In
"Some kind of way, we have to say enough is enough," Gregory
said.
The
Rev. Norman Johnson, executive director of the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference, questioned whether "this is an isolated
case," reports CNN.
The
demonstrators proposed a civilian police review board and a permanent
special prosecutor to investigate cases of possible police abuse as
other members of the public made fresh allegations of abuse about
Morse.
Jackson
and his family claim the police stopped him at a gas station in
Inglewood and immediately began beating the boy after questioning his
father for allegedly driving on a suspended license.
Morse's
lawyer, however, said he was being unfairly convicted in the news
media and that the action he took was "restrained", as the
boy had allegedly grabbed Morse's testicles while his hands were
handcuffed behind his back.
"I
am saying that he [Jackson] took action that required that he be
punched and that the use of force was restrained given all the
circumstances," attorney John Barnett said Thursday.
Father
and son have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit.
A
group representing the Donovan Jackson-Chavis Justice Committee said
they wanted all charges against Jackson and his father, Coby Chavis,
dropped; criminal charges brought against the police, who, if found
guilty, "do jail time just like everybody else"; and an
independent special prosecutor hired to handle similar crimes, reports
CNN.
Inglewood
Mayor Roosevelt Dorn gathered with community leaders and local clergy
to outline reforming the Inglewood Police Department, saying there may
be "some bad apples in the department…what I observed on that
videotape cannot and will not be tolerated in the city of
Inglewood."
Dorn
also disclosed that investigations would be reopened into two previous
complaints filed against Morse, but declined to provide details on the
cases, reports news agencies.
Meanwhile,
the man who captured the beating on tape, Mitchell Crooks, alleged
that he too had been abused by police following his arrest Thursday on
outstanding warrants for a drunken hit and run crash and petty theft.
"He
was pushed up against a wall, his handcuffs were way too tight, he has
very visible marks," his lawyer Dean Masserman said, adding that
Crooks had also reported suffering bruises and a cut to a finger.
Crooks
later appeared at a grand jury hearing called to decide whether there
was enough evidence to indict Morse following the incident, then was
handed over to police from Northern California to begin his
seven-month jail sentence for his earlier convictions, authorities
said.
|
