The FBI is investigating two Los Angeles policemen over a videotape posted on the popular YouTube Web site showing one of the officers punching a suspected gang member in the face as they struggle to handcuff him.The incident has triggered comparisons to the beating of Rodney King that was caught on videotape in 1991, lighting the fuse for deadly riots that would explode across the city a year later and give the Los Angeles Police Department a black eye from which it is still trying to recover.
While King's beating was captured by plumber George Holliday on a camcorder, just a few years after the hand-held video cameras came into widespread use, the latest violent altercation between police officers and a suspect may be the first to confront the LAPD via YouTube.com.
"We have opened a preliminary inquiry into whether or not a violation of civil rights occurred," FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said. "We will look into it, do a preliminary investigation and the results will go to the Department of Justice."
Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton has also ordered an investigation into the Aug. 11 arrest of 24-year-old William Cardenas by officers Alexander Schlegel and Patrick Farrell, but said the videotape was only part of the story.
The 19-second tape posted on the popular video clips Web site shows the two policemen grappling with Cardenas as he shouts that he can't breathe. One of the police officers is seen punching Cardenas repeatedly in the face.
"There's no denying that the video is disturbing," Bratton told reporters at a press conference. "But as to whether the actions of the officers were appropriate in light of what they were experiencing and the totality of the circumstances is what the investigation will determine."
According to a story in the Los Angeles Times, Cardenas was initially confronted by police while drinking beer on a street corner and taken into custody for failing to appear in court on a warrant for receiving stolen property.
Cardenas' attorney, Kwaku Duren, said that his client, who remains jailed, would sue for violation of his civil rights.
"I'll be filing a complaint for damages. He's been in jail three months and he did sustain physical injuries," Duren said. "There are definitely sufficient facts for for malicious conduct and punitive damages."
The April 1992 acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers in King's beating touched off the worst urban riots in modern U.S. history. More than 50 people were killed, thousands of businesses were destroyed and damage was estimated at more than $1 billion.
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