FEDS SET OUTSIDE PROBE OF COPS FBI AGREES TO INQUIRY INTO VIOLENCE AT RALLY.

Byline: RACHEL URANGA

Staff Writer

The FBI announced Thursday that it will open a civil-rights inquiry into the May Day melee at MacArthur Park, one of a growing number of investigations into the LAPD's actions at the pro-immigration rally.

The FBI's statement came amid mounting criticism of the officers, who wielded batons and sprayed 240 rounds of rubber pellets as they tried to disperse participants to end the second of two peaceful rallies on behalf of the nation's illegal immigrants.

Police Chief William Bratton had sought the FBI inquiry, saying he hoped a federal review would restore the public's confidence in the Los Angeles Police Department and dispel concerns that officers had targeted immigrants or their advocates.

"There were mistakes made here, up and down the line," Bratton said at a morning news conference. "But I am looking at the totality of what happened at that day, starting with me.

"We have nothing to hide in the sense of our investigation," he said. "The events on May 1 are very unfortunate for this department and for the potential impact it has on the relationship with a community that's very important to us -- the immigrant community."

The LAPD will conduct a top-down investigation of the use of force by its officers and also will look at whether they were properly trained, Bratton said. One of the key questions is: Who ordered the 600 officers to use force against the demonstrators?

The civilian Police Commission that oversees the LAPD is conducting its own investigation.

"It's important the public know(s) there is effective civilian oversight of the LAPD," said Inspector General Andre Birotte, who has assigned two staff members to the probe he is conducting for the Police Commission.

"They have made it clear that I have to go through these facts with a fine-toothed comb and call it like I see it."

The chief is seeking a second five-year term, and earlier this week touted his success in building relationships with minority communities during his first five years on the job.

15 years after riots

At the same time, he is trying to lead the LAPD out from the constraints of a federal consent decree imposed after a corruption scandal at the department's Rampart Division.

And, coincidentally, the confrontation came 15 years after the Los Angeles riots, which were sparked by the acquittals of four white officers in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King. It was that incident that crystalized the concern about brutality within the LAPD and raised questions about its relationships with the city's growing minority communities.

"The culture of violence within the LAPD and the culture of racial animus is being questioned again," said Earl Ofari Hutchinson of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, who has backed Bratton's reappointment as chief.

"Now all of those doubts are coming back to the surface. The logical question is, how much has changed despite the good-faith efforts that are brought to bear."

But Bratton maintains that the good will he's been carefully building over the past five years will help the department weather this latest crisis. He also said the provisions of the consent decree actually provide the framework for investigating the incident.

But Bratton's assurances did little to calm the ire of immigrant-rights groups, as well as media organizations whose members were injured by police.

"We want a public apology from the chief," said Angelica Salas, executive director for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.

"To receive this kind of treatment has a chilling effect on our community to gather and march and do the things that we do. There needs to be public assurances from the chief to our community."

Organizers said they were given no clear warning before LAPD officers moved in about 6 p.m. to clear demonstrators from MacArthur Park. When tensions escalated, police wielded batons and fired rubber bullets into a crowd that included women and children.

Birotte said LAPD policy allows police to disperse an unlawful assembly -- one where there is the appearance of violence. Policy also say they can use force only if they are facing an aggressive and combative environment, he said.

Bratton said he had reviewed aerial footage of the melee and determined that there were three lines of 75 to 100 agitators who injured seven officers, knocking one of them off his motorcycle.

The first line taunted officers, the second line videotaped police and the third threw rocks and bottles, Bratton said.

But some civil-rights attorneys said the department's reaction was disproportionate to what took place.

"They haven't used this force since 2000, but they chose to use it at an immigrants-rights demonstration," said Cynthia Anderson-Barker, who represented a group of protesters who filed a class-action suit against the department after it broke up demonstrations at the 2000 Democratic National Convention.

Police overreaction 

Colleen Flynn, an attorney with the National Lawyers Guild, said she has worked as an observer at every major immigration and peace march since 2002, but had never before seen the LAPD respond so aggressively.

"I saw the police not give dispersal orders and not give any warning that they would fire," Flynn said. "I saw a couple of plastic bottles hurled at the police, but their response has to be in proportion. They can't be using indiscriminate force -- and that's what was happening."

City Councilman Bernard Parks had harsh words for the department he commanded until Bratton replaced him as chief five years ago.

"All of the training and the discipline and the variety of things that have been in place and expected seems to have all dissipated," Parks said.

"We have only been planning May 1 demonstrations now for 30 years. How did our department get to be so undisciplined in how they approached the event?"

Staff Writer Kerry Cavanaugh contributed to this report.

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