LOS ANGELES - A jury reached a verdict Tuesday in the trial of a white former officer charged with police brutality for punching and slamming a handcuffed black teenager onto the trunk of a squad car during a videotaped arrest.

The verdict, reached less than an hour into the jury's fourth day of deliberations, was to be read in the afternoon.

Former Inglewood officer Jeremy Morse, 25, is charged assault under color of authority in the arrest of Donovan Jackson, then 16, at a gas station last July. A bystander videotaped part of the arrest,

Morse's former partner, Officer Bijan Darvish, 26, is charged with filing a false police report about the incident.

The arrest sparked protests, raised racial tensions and led to comparisons to the Rodney King beating.

While the jury was deliberating, a coalition of government, church and community leaders urged calm. Hundreds of volunteers, including some former gang members, planned to flood the streets after the verdict to plead for peace.