Elite Metropolitan Division of
Los Angeles Police Department
Present at Melee

Why?

ANDREW GLAZER / AP 5may2007

Los Angeles — Riots, dangerous standoffs and terrorism are crises for which the Los Angeles Police Department created its elite Metropolitan Division.

So community activists wonder: Why was this helmeted, baton-wielding unit called to clear out a park after Tuesday's peaceful immigration march? And did their appearance somehow instigate the violence that ensued?

"Their presence is provocative," said Carol Sobel, president of the National Lawyers Guild, who has worked with the LAPD to change policies, including when Metro officers are activated.

Seeing Metro officers "standing there, pointing ... weapons, in black uniforms with their shields down and it's like an enemy state," she said.

During the melee at MacArthur Park, about 600 police officers, including 100 from the Metro Division, fired more than 240 rubber bullets and beat demonstrators and members of the news media with batons, but made no arrests, Police Chief William Bratton said.

Bratton said he was troubled by videotaped images of the police response and said four investigations are under way.

Fox reporter Christina Gonzalez, who was pushed by officers, said she heard them laugh and say, "Double time, it's tussle time."

The 288-member Metro squad was designed as a mobile crime-fighting unit that could be deployed to hotspots.

"Their whole day is training for that special thing," said civil rights attorney Connie Rice, hired by the civilian police oversight commission to investigate the department after another unit was accused of using excessive force. "You have cops like that and guess what? They find reasons to use their training."

Capt. Scott Kroeber, commander of the division, did not return a message left at his office. The LAPD media office did not respond to a request for an interview about the unit.

Bob Baker, president of the union representing officers, has cautioned against condemning the police before an investigation is complete.

After a similar clash during the 2000 Democratic National Convention, the department has been reluctant to call in the Metro Division to work crowd control. The result has been minimal friction with police at other demonstrations, including last year's much larger immigration march, Sobel and others said.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa described Tuesday's incident as very similar to what happened at the convention. He said the investigation would determine whether police followed protocols set up afterward, some of them the result of lawsuits brought by Sobel.

Eugene O'Donnell, professor of police studies at New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said Los Angeles' thin police force is partly to blame for Tuesday's deployment of Metro officers. New York can flood demonstrations with undercover and uniformed police who arrest unruly protesters before a situation escalates, he said.

New York has more than 39,000 uniformed officers covering 320 square miles compared to Los Angeles, where about 9,000 patrol a city sprawling over 450 square miles.

source: 6may2007

Officers’ use of force to clear LA rally ‘grave concern’

PETER PRENGAMAN / AP 3may2007

LOS ANGELES — Coming under intense criticism, Police Chief William J. Bratton said Wednesday officers’ use of brute force to disperse an immigration rally was of “grave concern” and promised a full investigation.

Bratton said officers fired 240 “nonlethal” rounds to clear MacArthur Park late Tuesday, images captured by numerous news videos showing officers striking people, including journalists, with batons and shooting the rubber bullets into crowds that included children.

Images showed police hitting a television cameraman to the ground, shoving people who were walking away from officers and injuries from the rubber bullets — such as a Hispanic man with bleeding welts on his stomach and back. Lines of officers moved through the park firing the rubber rounds.

“The events of yesterday, with all (the training) that we do, should not have occurred,” said Bratton at a tense press conference.

Rally organizers denounced the police action as brutal.

With Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa away in El Salvador, City Council President Eric Garcetti spoke to viewers of a televised news conference in English and Spanish, stressing the duty to protect the people’s right to assemble and for “a free and unencumbered news media.”

John Mack, president of the five-member Police Commission, said he was “deeply disturbed and very disappointed” by the images.

“This was not a pretty picture. This incident raises serious concern regarding the use of force by some individual officers,” said Mack, who is one of Bratton’s bosses. The civilian commission, which sets policy for the Police Department, has opened its own investigation.

Bratton said the clash occurred over 45 minutes to an hour as the rally wound down. He indicated police were initially trying to deal with 50 to 100 “agitators.”

“The individuals were there to provoke police,” said Bratton. “Unfortunately they got what they came for.”

Rally organizers and reporters said the clashes started around 6 p.m., when police tried to disperse demonstrators who moved into a street. Authorities said several people threw rocks and bottles at officers, who used batons to push the crowd back onto the sidewalk and then cleared the park.

Bratton said eight adults and a minor were arrested on charges ranging from public alcohol consumption to assault with a deadly weapon for throwing a rock at a police officer.

Seven officers sustained minor injuries and another was pushed off his motorcycle, he said. About 10 people were treated for minor injuries, though authorities expected those numbers to rise.

The decision to clear the park was the responsibility of the incident commander, Bratton said, adding the command structure present included two deputy chiefs, a commander and four captains.

The 600 officers at the scene included 100 from the elite Metropolitan Division, considered to be among the department’s most highly trained, who cleared the park. Bratton was sharply questioned by reporters on why top-trained officers wouldn’t know reporters had a right to be there.

“We should not be engaged in attacks on the media,” Bratton said.

Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, who represents the park district, suggested that marchers’ race played a role in the police response. He said police deliberately led troublemakers back to the peaceful marchers before beginning their assault.

“The only logical conclusion I can come to is that somebody wanted it to bleed into the march so that they can do some target practice on some of the immigrants that were marching,” Nunez said.

Bratton said the police order to disperse had been in English from a police helicopter, a tactic he said was likely ineffective because of the noise and because many at the protest were Spanish-speakers.

Many caught in the melee were journalists.

KTTV reporter Christina Gonzales suffered a separated shoulder, while camerawoman Patti Ballaz had a broken wrist and possibly a broken hand, said Fox Television Stations spokeswoman Erica Keane.

Reporter Maria Garcia of Spanish-language Telemundo 52 told KCAL-TV, “To me it was like all of a sudden I was not in Los Angeles or in California, I was in a country of real conflict.”

KPCC radio reporter Patricia Nazario said she was hit in the back and ribs with a baton, then hit her head and twisted her ankle while falling from a blow. She described an interaction with an officer who was hitting her.

“’Why did you hit me? I’m a reporter?”’ Nazario recounted Wednesday on her station. “And he hit me again, harder that time, and I fell; and I fell on the dirt and my phone flew like about 12 feet in front of me.”

KCAL-TV cameraman Carl Stein said his camera was tossed and he was thrown to the ground.

“I’m sore and I’m sore about what happened,” Stein told viewers. “It was like open season — take a whack, have at it.”

Angela Sanbrano, a rally organizer, said she saw “a few young men with their faces covered” provoking police. But instead of just dealing with them, she said, police began forcing everyone out of the park.

“They were pushing children, elderly, mothers with their babies and beating up on the media” said Sanbrano.

The event was among nationwide marches demanding a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

For Villaraigosa, the clash was a reminder of the risk any mayor takes leaving town when a large public event is scheduled, especially in a city with a history of strained police-community relations.

There was a contingency plan to get the mayor home rapidly in case of an emergency, but he had no plans to cut short his trip, although the possibility was discussed.

Associated Press Writers Don Thompson in Sacramento, and Jeremiah Marquez and Michael R. Blood in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

source: 6may2007

LA Police Chief William J. Bratton:
Working for the 'Clampdown'?

STONE MARTINDALE / Monsters and Critics 3may2007

Local Fox LA News reporter Christina Gonzales, once married to shock jock radio host Tom Leykis, was manhandled by the Los Angeles Police in MacArthur Park, and it was all caught on tape. Nearly 600 officers at the scene included 100 from the elite Metropolitan Division, considered among the department's most trained, were in the park.

Police Chief William J. Bratton and an out of town Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Wednesday promised an investigation into the dubious conduct of police who dispersed an immigration rally, after videos captured officers using force with reporters and firing rubber bullets into crowds.

Numerous rounds were used to clear MacArthur Park late Tuesday. News cameras caught the action, where women and children were fired upon with the rubber bullets and batons.

"The events of yesterday, with all (the training) that we do, should not have occurred," Bratton said at a very tense news conference. "We should not be engaged in attacks on the media."

The actions of the LAPD were described by objective observers reviewing tape as "brutal."

KTTV reported that John Mack - president of the five-member Police Commission, which sets policty for the Police Department - said he was "deeply disturbed and very disappointed" by the images.

"This was not a pretty picture. This incident raises serious concern regarding the use of force by some individual officers," said Mack, who is one of Bratton's bosses. The civilian commission has opened its own investigation.

Bratton said the clash occurred over 45 minutes to an hour as the rally wound down. Police were initially trying to deal with 50 to 100 "agitators," he said to KTTV.

"The individuals were there to provoke police," Bratton said. "Unfortunately, they got what they came for."

Rally organizers and reporters said the clashes started when police tried to disperse demonstrators who moved into a street arounf 6 PM.

Authorities claim the crowd threw rocks and bottles at officers, who then used batons to push the crowd back to the sidewalk and then cleared the park, reported KTTV.

Eight adults and a minor were arrested on charges ranging from public alcohol consumption to assault with a deadly weapon for throwing a rock at a police officer, Bratton said.

Seven officers suffered minor injuries, and another was pushed off his motorcycle, he said. About 10 people were treated for minor injuries, though authorities expected the number to rise.

KTTV Fox reporter Gonzales suffered a separated shoulder, while camerawoman Patti Ballaz had a broken wrist and possibly a broken hand, said Fox Television Stations spokeswoman Erica Keane.

KPCC radio reporter Patricia Nazario said she was hit in the back and ribs with a baton, then hit her head and twisted her ankle while falling from a blow. She described an interaction with an officer who was hitting her.

KCAL-TV cameraman Carl Stein said that his camera was tossed and that he was thrown to the ground.

"I'm sore, and I'm sore about what happened," Stein told viewers. "It was like open season - take a whack, have at it."

source: 6may2007