VIDEO FOOTAGE QUICKLY FINDS WAY ONTO WEB.

Byline: BRENT HOPKINS Staff Writer

When the camera is recording, each punch by a police officer reverberates long after the arrest.

When plumber George Holliday heard a commotion outside his Lake View Terrace apartment 15 years ago, he grabbed his new video recorder and began taping. The grainy, greenish images showed four officers beating a motorist named Rodney King -- and soon seared their way into public consciousness.

Since then, cameras have caught officers armed with flashlights beating a man on the side of the freeway, slamming a youth on the hood of a car and, most recently, punching a man in the head. And that's just in the L.A. area.

In the world of the cell-phone camera and instant Internet distribution, anyone can be George Holliday, and someone's always watching.

On Thursday, footage surfaced showing a Los Angeles police officer punching William Cardenas, 23, as another officer tried to handcuff him. By Thursday afternoon, Chief William Bratton and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had weighed in, turning what began as a minor arrest into a citywide controversy.

``When they reach the public, it helps people to know that it's a serious issue,'' said Joaquin Cienfuegos, a member of Cop Watch Los Angeles, an activist group that circulated the Cardenas footage online.

``This wasn't just with Rodney King. ... When people see it on video, then they know we're not just making it up. They know it happened.''

Though the amateur videos often arouse public sentiment -- as dramatically revealed in riots after the King beating trial -- law enforcement scholar Joe Domanick said they're helpful to expose police abuses.

``That kind of scrutiny can only be positive,'' said Domanick, a senior fellow in criminal justice at the University of Southern California Annenberg Institute for Justice and Journalism.

``It's good for the citizenry, certainly, to catch police officers on tape abusing citizens. It makes it much more difficult for the officer in question or their supervisor to deny the abuse.''

And, at the same time, the Los Angeles Police Protective League contends videos are equally helpful in preventing false accusations against officers.

``We don't see a problem with having police work recorded on camera,'' union President Bob Baker said in a statement. ``In fact, we support efforts to put cameras in all LAPD patrol cars because we believe that this will protect us from frivolous complaints.

``However, police action recorded at poor quality from one angle frequently is unclear and misrepresents the story. This is why it is important to know all the facts in a case and not rush to judgment.''

brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com

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Fifteen years ago, when George Holliday heard a commotion outside his Lake View Terrace apartment, he grabbed his video recorder and caught on tape four officers beating a motorist named Rodney King. With today's technology, anyone can be a George Holliday.