REPORT: LAPD IGNORED BRUTALITY CLAIMS AGAINST SECOND STATION

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Police Department, which is engulfed by a scandal in
its Rampart Division, ignored 1995 allegations that officers at another
station brutalized a 15-year-old boy and his father, it was reported today.

Anti-gang officers from the 77th Street station allegedly smacked the
teen-ager in the mouth with a shotgun butt and suffocated his father until
he passed out and ended up in a hospital, the Los Angeles Times said,
citing court records.

A second 1995 case involved allegations that anti-gang officers beat a man
they accused of tossing a bottle at their police car.

It cost taxpayers a total of $475,000 to settle various claims in the two
cases.

Family members in both cases say the LAPD never investigated their
complaints. Critics contend that highlights the department's failure to
investigate credible claims of misconduct.

The man at the center of the allegations, former anti-gang Officer Addis
Simpson, was later fired after an LAPD disciplinary board found he lied to
investigators after choking a man in an off-duty altercation. He did not
respond to requests for comment, the Times said.

At least 12 people have been relieved of duty as authorities probe
accusations that Rampart anti-gang officers framed and shot suspects, stole
drugs and covered up a wide range of misconduct.

In response to the scandal, officials are scrutinizing the elite units
known as Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums, or CRASH.

Yet the Police Department still cannot answer basic questions about CRASH
squads, such as the number of misconduct complaints lodged against them.

"It's sad ... We have for all these years lost the value of a comprehensive
system to track misconduct claims filed against officers and units such as
CRASH," said Capt. Rick Wahler, who has taken over the LAPD's risk
management unit.

Wahler said the department will begin tracking legal claims against
officers and units next year.