U.S. Probing Police Raid on Apartments

A federal grand jury is investigating the Los Angeles Police Department’s conduct stemming from a massive drug raid in South-Central Los Angeles last summer that resulted in extensive damage to four apartments and allegations of police brutality, The Times has learned.

Police spokesman Cmdr. William Booth confirmed Friday that an LAPD representative has been subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury on Sept. 15 with internal records of what has become known as the “39th and Dalton Incident.”

For the last eight months, FBI agents have been quietly conducting an investigation of the raid to determine if 88 police officers involved in the operation violated the civil rights of citizens.

FBI spokesman Jim Neilson in Los Angeles refused to discuss details of the federal investigation, saying only that it began in January.

People who lived in the four apartments, located on Dalton Avenue near 39th Street just west of the Coliseum, said Friday they were elated by the federal probe.

“I’m so glad the grand jury is looking into it,” said Johnnie Mae Carter, 61. The police officers involved in the raid, she said, “shouldn’t get away with what they did. They came in here and left me homeless.”

Carter and 28 other residents contend in a federal lawsuit filed last fall that the officers methodically tore apart their apartments, knocking holes in walls, pouring bleach on clothing and tossing out the contents of refrigerators and freezers.

Illegal Arrests Charged

The suit contends that people walking or driving past the site were illegally arrested and then beaten and forced to whistle the theme song to the old “Andy Griffith” television show. Inside the apartments, the suit contends, officers used spray paint to write graffiti such as “LAPD Rules.”

There was so much damage that the Red Cross offered disaster assistance to the occupants. Police at first contended that suspected gang members had caused the destruction, but later acknowledged that at least some of the officers were responsible.

Booth said Friday that the grand jury wants to see reports on the LAPD’s internal investigation, as well as photographs and information regarding disciplinary actions against officers.

“We will honor this subpoena,” he said, adding that the Police Department’s representative had been ordered to testify before the grand jury.

The order came less than a week after a police tribunal gave one of the officers who took part in the raid two days off without pay for making false and misleading statements in an affidavit used to obtain search warrants for the apartments.

But the tribunal cleared Officer Carl A. Sims Jr. of making a false arrest, filing a false arrest report, improperly disposing of a packet of flour that officers originally thought was cocaine and failing to note in court records that the packet had been confiscated.

Sims, who since the raid has been promoted to the position of detective trainee, was among 38 officers whom the LAPD accused of misconduct relating to the raid. No officer was accused of brutality.

In late July, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office filed misdemeanor vandalism charges against a former police commander and three officers. In addition, one of the officers was charged with obstructing the police investigation.

The former commander, Capt. Thomas D. Elfmont, was in charge of the LAPD’s Southwest Division at the time of the raid and is accused of telling officers to “level” and “make uninhabitable” the targeted residences. Elfmont lost his command and was demoted because of the raid.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Chris Darden told the Times that the prosecutor’s investigation is continuing and that felony charges could still be forthcoming.

Police have said that the raid was conducted because the apartments were thought to be havens for drug activity and hangouts for gang members who had been involved in a drive-by shooting.

Gates’ Explanation

Police Chief Daryl F. Gates has said that the officers might have overreacted to a rumor that someone had called the Southwest Division station a few days earlier and threatened to kill a police officer.

Gates said the raid netted officers 20 rocks of cocaine, 147.6 grams of marijuana and a rifle.

Thirty-three people were taken into police custody, but only six were booked for investigation of drug and gun possession. Of the six who were booked, only one--a man who allegedly was pulled from a motor scooter as he passed the raid site--was successfully prosecuted.

Most of the other people were photographed and released.

HISTORY OF THE DALTON AVENUE RAID Aug. 1, 1988: More than 80 Los Angeles police officers conduct nighttime raid of four apartments near the intersection of 39th Street and Dalton Avenue just west of the Los Angeles Coliseum. Six people are booked. Aug. 2, 1988: More than 40 people sign a complaint alleging that officers detained people without cause, beat some and methodically damaged the apartments. Aug. 4, 1988: Red Cross tours apartments and finds them so damaged that it offers occupants emergency aid usually reserved for victims of natural disasters. A police captain contends that gang members entered apartments after officers left and caused the damage. Aug. 12, 1988: A police official acknowledges that there was “some police misconduct” during the raid and that officers might have gotten “carried away.” Oct. 27, 1988: Federal lawsuit is filed on behalf of 29 people against city and police officials and officers involved in the raid. January, 1989: FBI begins its investigation into possible civil rights violations. June 22, 1989: Police Chief Daryl F. Gates announces that 38 officers are to be disciplined for their parts in the raid, with nine of them ordered to court-martial-like tribunals known as board of rights hearings. July 27, 1989: Misdemeanor vandalism charges are filed against the former commander of the Southwest Division, who is accused of ordering his officers to “level” the apartments. Three other officers are also charged with misdemeanors. Aug. 25, 1989: Officer Carl A. Sims Jr., first of the nine to go before tribunal, is given two days off without pay after being found guilty of obtaining search warrants for raid with documents that contained false and misleading information. Sims is found not guilty of four other charges. Aug. 31, 1989: LAPD receives subpoena from federal authorities and order to testify before federal grand jury.