Post by tcrashfx on May 3, 2007 4:10:03 GMT -5
May 2, 10:26 PM (ET)
By PETER PRENGAMAN
By PETER PRENGAMAN
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Police Chief William J. Bratton on Wednesday promised an investigation into the conduct of police who dispersed an immigration rally, after videos captured officers using force with reporters and firing rubber bullets into crowds.
Bratton said officers fired 240 "nonlethal" rounds to clear MacArthur Park late Tuesday. News images showed police hitting a television cameraman to the ground, shoving people who were walking away from officers and injuries from the rubber bullets, including a Hispanic man with welts on his abdomen and back. Lines of officers moved through the park firing the rubber rounds.
"The events of yesterday, with all (the training) that we do, should not have occurred," Bratton said at a tense news conference. "We should not be engaged in attacks on the media."
Rally organizers denounced the police action as brutal.