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Article on the protest

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Police Riot
Anti-Minutemen protestors beat up by police in Hollywood to appear in court as internal affairs investigation continues

~ By JOE PIASECKI ~


Photo by Dana Zielinsky
Lynching? The police beating of Jose Villa was captured on videotape



I think this is the same person being arrested.



radio news reporter and a young activist clubbed by Los Angeles police officers during a July 8 protest in Hollywood – one of them caught on video and the subject of an LAPD internal affairs investigation – are expected to appear in court Thursday, August 3.

Jose Villa, a 21-year-old college student, was among counter-demonstrators who turned up to protest at a rally organized by the Minutemen, a prominent movement against rights for illegal immigrants. After an altercation with police, Villa is being charged with Attempted Lynching – for being part of a melee that officers say he caused in order to help free another pro-immigrant protestor from custody.

The video, however, seems to tell a different tale. In two separate video accounts, Villa and his girlfriend, who carried a camera and was not arrested, can be seen standing near officers as they arrested another protestor. Then an officer rams a bicycle into them, sparking a chain reaction of violence in which officers struck Villa several times, even after he fell to the ground.

“They didn’t give us a warning. We were just on the sidewalk getting shoved,” says Villa, a political science major at Mt. San Antonio College, of the moments immediately leading up to the fracas. He was treated for multiple contusions after the incident.

“We were trying to get back on the sidewalk, and the police guy with the bike comes and rams into us. So they hit us, she’s falling over, and I’m trying to not let her fall. They knocked me down and were hitting us in the knees and the legs while we’re down,” he explained breathlessly while reviewing a tape of the incident with this reporter.

Although Villa must appear in court under terms of his $50,000 bail agreement, a letter signed by LAPD Captain Kyle Jackson and obtained by CityBeat states that his case will be continued for as long as two months while LAPD Professional Standards Bureau detectives review the incident.

Liliana Sunn, who was covering the protest for KPFK 90.7 FM and is free on $20,000 bail, is also scheduled to be arraigned August 3 on misdemeanor charges of battery on a police officer. According to her attorney, the five-foot tall, 115-pound Sunn was knocked over by baton blows to the chest after she stepped off the curb while standing among a crowd of demonstrators gathered at the corner of Hollywood and Argyle.

Both Villa and Sunn are represented by Bill Paparian, a civil rights lawyer and former Pasadena mayor who is currently running for Congress with the California Green Party.

Sunn, who completed a live report in Spanish before her arrest, is deeply traumatized by the incident and not giving any interviews, says Paparian, adding that officers apparently deleted content stored on her tape recorder while she was in custody. Like Villa, Sunn’s arraignment may also be postponed, as she was contacted recently by an LAPD internal affairs officer, he says.

Of the incident involving Villa, Paparian says, “The video really speaks for itself. It’s clearly not the LAPD’s finest hour, and it’s an example of a breakdown in leadership at this demonstration.”

An LAPD spokesman said it was department policy not to discuss events under internal review.

One videotape of the incident was filmed by a pro-Minutemen demonstrator and can be viewed at Immigrationwatchdog.com/?p=1480. Another, shot by a person standing closer to supporters Act Now to Stop War and End Racism Coalition (ANSWER), can be seen at Youtube.com/ watch?v=o 9hS0ZhpFPA. Officers reviewing the incident have asked to interview Villa, according to Paparian, who did not know by press time whether the incident involving Sunn was also being considered under the review.

“There’s really no reason for them to interview Jose at this point, except to make a statement of apology for a clear violation of his human and civil rights. These officers were completely out of control,” says Paparian.

John Burton, an attorney who specializes in police misconduct cases, agrees. After watching both videos, he characterizes the baseball-swing baton strikes used against Villa as “power strokes” that were “administered to inflict pain for punishment and not for any conceivable legitimate law enforcement objective,” he says.

“I’d like to know more about the overall context. However, it’s a very clear example of excessive force by police officers. Number one, those power strokes are obviously gratuitous: He’s on the ground and there are two other officers who are in the process of cuffing him,” says Burton.

Armando Gudiño, program director for the progressive San Fernando Valley-based KPFK, expresses outrage over the treatment of Sunn.

“We at KPFK are disgusted that this is going on, find the conduct of the police department to be irresponsible, and believe we should hold the police department accountable,” says Gudiño.


08-03-06