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American Morning

Interview with Neilson Williams and Attorney

Aired July 12, 2002 - 07:09   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to go back to the story of that police beating during the arrest of a teenager in Inglewood, California. Another man now claims he was assaulted by Inglewood police officers last month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEILSON WILLIAMS, ALLEGED BEATING VICTIM: I was pretty much encountered by a fleet of evil 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: The police say Neilson Williams was intoxicated and had to be subdued by force. Neilson Williams joins us now from Los Angeles, along with his attorney, Saddie Johns -- welcome -- good to have both of you with us this morning.

SADDIE JOHNS, WILLIAMS' ATTORNEY: Good morning.

WILLIAMS: Good morning.

ZAHN: All right, Neilson, let's talk about exactly what happened as you were getting ready to leave the picnic. You say that the police, as you just told us in that small part of an interview, essentially beat you to a pulp. They say that you were intoxicated, that you resisted the police, and in their words, you were "belligerent and uncooperative." Your response to that.

WILLIAMS: Well, my response is basically if all of those allegations or what have you was to be true, then in the police report that they filled out, I never was charged with any type of crime or any type of resistance, rather it would be combative or what have you. So I would say that in their own words, that those were -- that's -- those are basically false allegations.

ZAHN: Are you convinced that Officer Morse now, who is being tied to this latest beating in Inglewood, was among those officers who beat you up?

JOHNS: Paula, if I may answer that question. The police report states, and Mr. Morse is the lead police officer that wrote this report, he was directly involved in this particular incident. ZAHN: But let's replay for our audience an interview that Neilson did earlier this week, when he was asked if he recognized Officer Morse. Here is what he had to say:

"I can't say that I do or I don't. I will say that when I seen the tape with the officer and his actions with the youngster, he -- I knew pretty much -- a gut feeling, this is me saying this -- I knew he had something involved, you know, he had something involved with my scenario."

Are you 100 percent sure of that, Neilson?

WILLIAMS: Well, yes, I'm 100 percent sure by way of the police report. If you was to, you know, get a copy of the police report and look at it, he is the lead officer. He was the one who basically wrote out the police report. When I said I had a gut feeling, that was before -- that's when I seen the young man, the 16-year-old, videotape, and I seen the beating, and I seen him, you know, basically hit him. I knew, I had a gut feeling, I said that, you know what? I almost bet a dollar to a donut that he was involved.

Later, when I looked at the police report when I started paying attention to the officer names, that's when I knew for sure. So if you listen to that statement, it kind of states correctly exactly what I'm saying now.

ZAHN: You no doubt have heard what the attorney for Officer Morse is now saying that a lot of people are coming out of the woodwork, essentially, just to get money. And he is making the point that you filed this complaint over a month ago, and now you have just filed the civil suit. Why did you wait so long?

WILLIAMS: Actually, I was in -- I was in the hospital for approximately five days. When I was released from the hospital, I still was pretty much bedridden, and you know, pretty much staying around the house, because I was in no shape or, you know, as far as health was concerned to even -- to go anywhere to look for anybody. But even during the time I was at home, I was making phone calls and pretty much interviewing different type of attorneys, and that's what took so long.

But if you look at the time span, it wasn't -- it was more close to two weeks opposed to the month that you are saying.

ZAHN: And in the meantime, what kind of reaction did you have from the Inglewood Police Department? Did you have any contact with them at all from the time you went into the hospital from the time you came out?

WILLIAMS: What I did was I made sure -- my sister, Alicia Williams (ph), handled everything from the day I was able to wake up from the coma I was in after the police pretty much, you know, choked me out and just beat me all over. When I was able to come up out of the coma and get -- you know, get my head clear, I pretty much gave her the power of attorney to go and handle the case as far as dealing with the Inglewood Police Department and whoever else she might have to talk to.

So it was being handled, you know, as soon as I was able to talk, and like I said, before be -- you know, be clear-minded about the situation.

ZAHN: In closing this morning, Saddie, your client has made it quite clear he wasn't arrested for anything the day of that beating. My question to you is: How do you plan to counter the argument of the Inglewood Police that your client was uncooperative and belligerent when police came to talk to him?

JOHNS: Well, I feel as though a lot of this I cannot talk about right now until we file the complaint. But the fact -- the statements that they are making that my client was belligerent are false. There was a witness. There has been statements taken by the witness. My client did not make any derogatory comments to the police officers, and they are false.

ZAHN: And another question to both of you. In the case of -- the latest case in Inglewood, the charge is that it was racially motivated in spite of the fact that a Hispanic police officer was there, as well as a black police officer. What do you think it was in your case, Neilson?

WILLIAMS: I wouldn't -- I wouldn't too much, you know, put -- I wouldn't say that it was either or, or it could have -- I mean, it could have been, you know, all of the above. I would like to basically be patient about the whole situation, and then eventually as the case goes on, I think in time it will tell itself.

ZAHN: Well, we'll be tracking the case alongside you. Neilson Williams and Saddie Johns, thank you very much for your time this morning -- appreciate your joining us on AMERICAN MORNING.

JOHNS: Thank you, Paula.

WILLIAMS: Thank you.

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