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American Morning
Police Brutality Case to Play Out in Courts
Aired July 11, 2002 - 05:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Scenes of a black teenager being smashed into a car by a white cop have played across television sets around the country. Now it's going to play out in the courts. The boy's family is suing.
Our Thelma Gutierrez is details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do not resist them!
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They are raw images of a routine traffic stop gone bad. But as bad as this appears, attorneys for 16-year-old Donovan Jackson and his father, Coby Chavis, say the tape does not capture everything that happened.
JOE HOPKINS, JACKSON'S ATTORNEY: The worst beating of both parties took place before the video ever started running.
GUTIERREZ: Attorneys for Donovan Jackson and Coby Chavis filed a lawsuit in federal court against Los Angeles County sheriffs and Inglewood police officers at the scene, the city of Inglewood and the county of Los Angeles, alleging their client's civil rights were violated by excessive and unreasonable use of force.
JOHN SWEENEY, COBY CHAVIS' ATTORNEY: We want to send the city of Inglewood a message that we are going to prosecute this case as vigorously and as roughly as they beat our clients.
GUTIERREZ: Neither the Inglewood Police Department nor the sheriff's department, have commented on the lawsuit. But the sheriff's department did release this incident report. It states that sometime while Coby Chavis was being questioned about a suspended driver's license and expired license plates, the teenager failed to respond to officer commands and refused to get into a patrol car, that Donovan lunged at the officers. It states, "During the altercation the subject pulled, scratched and fought with the victims, requiring Inglewood police personnel to strike the subject with personal weapons on his facial area."
TALIBAH SHAKIR, COUSIN: He was unconscious. It's bad enough that we get beaten simply because of the color of our skin or our zip code, but it's even worse when you do it to a special ed student.
GUTIERREZ: Donovan's family says he has a speech impediment and an auditory disability. And that he is slow to respond.
NEILSON, WILLIAMS, ALLEGED BEATING VICTIM: I had little head wounds from here to here.
GUTIERREZ: Two weeks before the Jackson incident, 32-year-old Neilson Williams says he, too, was beaten by Inglewood police after a picnic. He says he went into a coma.
WILLIAMS: I was pretty much encountered by a fleet of Inglewood police officers who pretty much had no respect for me, anything I was trying to tell them, and they just basically beat me to a pulp and almost beat me to death.
GUTIERREZ: Inglewood police say they restrained Williams with a neck hold and handcuffs, that he was combative and under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Williams has also filed a use of force complaint against the department, and like Donovan's case, it is being investigated by internal affairs.
Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And a Los Angeles County grand jury also is investigating the apparent police beating of Donovan Jackson, the man who videotaped the incident. Mitchell Crooks will have to appear before the grand jury today and he's afraid.
Here's an interview he had on the John and Ken Radio Show out of Los Angeles.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So have the police ever looked at it?
MITCHELL CROOKS: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you going to give it to them?
CROOKS: Sure. I mean, I'm not going to give it to them, but I'm going to allow them to have a copy of it. I'll show it to them. I just want to make sure that I have an attorney present. I have talked to a couple of people from the ACLU to make sure that this doesn't...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we have a chief deputy D.A. for Los Angeles County on the line here who I think has something to add to this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Curt Lindsay, welcome to the John and Ken Show.
CURT LINDSAY, DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Curt, Mitchell's on the line here. I assume you're up to speed on what we're discussing. LINDSAY: I think so. I haven't heard the entire conversation, but Mitchell, let me assure you that there's a grand jury subpoena for you and I suggest that you honor it and you show up at the criminal courts building. That's downtown, 210 West Temple, and you be here promptly at 8:30 tomorrow morning at the grand jury. That's the 13th floor of the building.
CROOKS: Yes, well, I hope the City of L.A. rallies behind me because I don't have anybody, you know what I mean?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you want us to do?
CROOKS: Huh?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you mean rally behind you? What do you want people to do?
CROOKS: Oh, well, you know, they're just coming after me because I shot the video. That's basically what this is boiling down to now. I'm fearing for my life, they're going to kick my (WORD OMITTED) in the cell or take turns on me probably.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The Inglewood police union is urging people not to jump to conclusions over this case. We'll keep you posted if he shows up at the grand jury at 8:30 this morning. That's the time on the West Coast.
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