The Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A federally appointed monitor overseeing reforms at the Police Department said a suspected car thief who was struck repeatedly with a flashlight during a videotaped arrest was complying with officers’ orders.
Although the monitor said he is “pleased with improvements” the department has made since a major corruption scandal the beating of Stanley Miller was deemed “questionable.”
The June 23 incident “came as no surprise to anyone in the criminal justice system,” Michael Cherkasky wrote.
“The incident immediately conjured up images of Rodney King and reignited the emotions that had surrounded that incident a decade ago,” the monitor stated, recalling the 1991 beating of the motorist by four LAPD officers.
But he said the systems established since then to investigate misconduct seemed to have worked to this point.
“The civilian overseers of the department, the Police Commission and the office of the inspector general have been deeply engaged in the process,” Cherkasky said.
Miller led police on a 30-minute car chase before officers caught up to him. One of the officers was seen striking Miller with a flashlight numerous times. The department has since drawn up plans to eliminate the two-pound, steel flashlights from its ranks.
“From accounts, including a review of the videotape of the incident, it appears that Mr. Miller was in the process of complying with the orders of the police when the force was utilized,” the report states.
Prosecutors last week filed charges of auto theft and evading an officer against Miller, 36. He has been imprisoned on a parole violation since his June 23 arrest, and his arraignment on the new charges will follow a hearing on the parole matter.
Miller has filed a $25 million claim against the city of Los Angeles, contending he suffered brain damage and other injuries.
Some observers were encouraged by the monitor’s report.
“The monitor was largely complimentary of the department’s response to the Miller case,” said Gerald Chaleff, civilian chief of the LAPD’s Consent Decree Bureau. “It demonstrates that the system that the consent decree mandates and the department has embraced are working.”
Cherkasky was appointed to monitor the department after a court mandate following the Rampart corruption scandal in which a former officer told authorities that he and other officers framed suspects, covered up shootings and falsified evidence.
The city signed the consent decree with the U.S. Justice Department three years ago and agreed to a series of reforms rather than fight federal allegations that it systematically abused the rights of citizens.
The department has until June 15, 2006, to demonstrate two years of compliance with the reforms.