Melee fallout

last updated 8 January 2015

Los Angeles

A senior Los Angeles police officer was demoted and about 60 others were reassigned after an elite police squad waded into a crowd of demonstrators last week, swinging batons and firing rubber bullets. Police Chief William Bratton called the incident “extraordinarily disturbing” and said he was “comfortable apologizing” for “things that shouldn’t have been done.” During a large immigrant-rights rally in MacArthur Park, a group of about 40 people, described by police as “agitators,” threw rocks and bottles at police. About 600 officers then charged the crowd, swinging their nightsticks at marchers, reporters, and camera operators. “It was appalling how out of proportion their reaction was to the situation,” said Joe Domanick, an urban-affairs specialist at the University of Southern California, who attended the rally. The LAPD has long had a reputation for aggressiveness, reinforced when police were videotaped beating Rodney King during a traffic stop in 1991.