City gears up for police trial

Man who filmed arrest tells of his own jail ordeal

Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles

Monday January 5, 2004

The Guardian

The retrial starts today of a former police officer accused of assaulting a black teenager by slamming him on to the boot of a police car, an encounter caught on video and broadcast around the world.

But 18 months after the alleged attack in Inglewood, at the edge of Los Angeles, the only person involved who has been sent to jail is the man who shot the video, who has been accused of being a "race traitor" for exposing what took place.

Mitchell Crooks, a 29-year-old actor, DJ and video-maker, was staying at a backpackers' hostel in Inglewood on July 6 2002 when he heard someone shouting "stop hurting him". He ran outside and started filming.

The images in the car park of a petrol station he captured of Donovan Jackson, 16 at the time, led to a charge of assault against Jeremy Morse, who is to appear in court today. A jury was unable to reach a decision at the officer's first trial in July.

"I don't regret doing what I did," Mr Crooks told the Guardian. "You have to do the right thing regardless of what the consequences."

Mr Crooks, who is from Sacramento and had lived in Los Angeles for four years, saw footage from his two-minute video broadcast on every US news network.

The alleged assault has been likened to the beating of Rodney King by four LA police officers, which was captured on video and led to the prosecution of the officers. Their acquittal in 1992 led to the LA riots in which 55 people died.

Inglewood police were aware someone had shot a video and searched the hotel for it. Mr Crooks said Australian and New Zealander backpackers staying there knew he had the footage but did not reveal his identity, so he was able to get it out to the media. He was arrested outside the CNN offices in LA.

"There was a warrant out for my arrest in connection with drunk driving, hit and run, and petty theft," Mr Crooks said. "I'm not making excuses but it was a fender-bender type of accident and I had pawned a VCR that belonged to me, but they made me look like I was the next worst person to Osama bin Laden.

"I had just arranged by phone with a friend to meet me there with the video so they must have tapped the phones."

Mr Crooks, a slim white man who says his experience has made him more politically involved, said: "I was flown by private jet to Placer county. For my sins, I was put in an all-white jail in an all-white county. It turned ugly real quick for me. I did six months in jail - that's what I owed them - and it was a rough six months.

"I was under lockdown 22 hours a day. There were no minorities in jail and some of the other inmates were saying I was a race traitor and throwing it in my face an awful lot."

After his arrest, he said, interest in the actions of Mr Morse, then 25, dwindled. "The media stop paying attention after they're told that you're a criminal."

After the jury failed to reach a verdict on Mr Morse Mr Crooks joined Inglewood community groups to appeal for calm, as prosecutors were accused of mounting a weak case. One of their witnesses, Commander Charles Heal of the LA county sheriff's department, had told the court he did not think a criminal charge was justified. Another police officer, charged with a lesser offence, was acquitted.

Mr Morse and the other officer are suing the city of Inglewood, claiming they were victims of racial discrimination, having been treated more harshly than a black officer also at the scene, who was suspended for four days.

Mr Crooks, meanwhile, is looking forward to the retrial. "Rodney King was not an isolated incident," he said. "Cops are very afraid of cameras - for good reason. Sometimes I think the situation is a little heavy but that goes with the territory." He speaks more in depth on his website www.freecrooks.com

Because of his incarceration, he did not meet Donovan Jackson until the last trial. "I got to meet the family a bit later. They have been real sweet." Mr Jackson, who has learning difficulties, is being represented by the high-profile lawyer Johnny Cochran in a civil action against the police.

The selection of the jury starts today. In last year's trial there was only one black juror, from what is a 50% black neighbourhood.