LA police chief to deliver report on clash at immigration rally

By JEREMIAH MARQUEZ, The Associated Press
2007-05-29 19:24:40.0
Current rank: # 3,390 of 11,949

LOS ANGELES -
Police Chief William Bratton said Tuesday that a chaotic breakdown in command at an immigration rally led to officers firing hundreds of rubber bullets to disperse a crowd and hitting demonstrators and journalists with batons .

"It was quite apparent ... it all broke down," Bratton said after the city's civilian Police Commission was given a minute-by-minute account of the May 1 melee.

Bratton previously has acknowledged that a breakdown in command and communication led to the clash at MacArthur Park. The confrontation was broadcast on television stations worldwide.

Police said they moved on protesters after being pelted with rocks and bottles. Nobody was seriously hurt but dozens of citizen complaints were filed. Bratton has said the clash embarrassed the department.

On Tuesday, Bratton said many police officers in the park that day could not identify their incident commander and that the order to fire non-lethal projectiles was given by a commander a block away from the park - not the deputy chief who was on the scene.

"We can do better than that. We have done better than that," Bratton said.

In a preliminary after-action report, Assistant Police Chief Jim McDonald took the five-member Police Commission step by step through events before and during the melee. He presented a slide show accompanied by audio of police radio traffic that highlighted chaotic conditions just before officers moved in on demonstrators.

Officers reported being targeted by "agitators" throwing rocks and bottles.

"Guys are getting hit and guys are getting hurt," one officer reported.

"We're getting killed over here," another said.

"Rocks and bottles are continuing. We have to push," said one report before officers swept the north side of the park.

On Monday, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents the department's 9,400 officers, said budget cutbacks were to blame for lapses in training and called for "constant, updated" training procedures.

League president Bob Baker says training is "the backbone of police work" and called for a clear use-of-force policy for employing batons in crowd-control situations.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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