PROSECUTORS TO AID IN TV CHASE CASE

Arapahoe County authorities have assigned two prosecutors and two
investigators to look into the televised arrest of two drug suspects
by Denver police officers.

The four, all taken from the staff of the Arapahoe County District
Attorney's office, will help investigators from the Denver Police
Department's internal affairs office.

As in other cases, the prosecutors will be able to help direct the
work of police investigators.

"If the prosecutors wanted something else done, that they thought
would be helpful to come to a conclusion on the case, then they would
request that it be done," said Mike Knight, deputy chief investigator
in the Arapahoe County District Attorney's Office.

A judge on Wednesday appointed Arapahoe County District Attorney Jim
Peters as special prosecutor in the case.

The arrest came Monday after a televised police chase through parts of
downtown Denver that ended near the Auraria campus. Footage shot from
a KMGH-TV Channel 7 helicopter appears to show some officers kicking
and hitting the two suspects. In two cases, it appears that officers
strike one of the men in the back of the head with the butts of their
handguns.

Four of the officers have requested attorneys through the Police
Protective Association.

Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter decided to step aside after
learning that a supervisor in his office is the brother of one of the
officers involved in the arrest.

The job of the special prosecutor is to determine whether any of the
officers broke state law and whether to file charges if it appears
they did.

It will be up to the police department to determine whether they
violated internal procedures.

Knight said it wasn't clear how long the investigation could
take.

"We will do it as expeditiously as we can," he said.

In the meantime, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Mark J.
Mershon, who is in charge of the Denver office, said agents would
monitor the situation but would not conduct an independent inquiry
into the arrests. Instead, they will forward the results of the Denver
police investigation to officials in the Justice Department's Civil
Rights Division.

It wasn't clear Thursday whether either of the suspects had complained
about their treatment.

"I have just spoken to him very, very briefly," said Tom Hammond,
attorney for Aguedo Merbin Garcia-Martinez. "I will not indicate what
we spoke about."

David Lane, an attorney representing suspect Eduardo Morales, said he
could not comment until at least today. There was some question about
whether he would remain Morales' attorney.

Denver police officials will not discuss any aspect of the internal
investigation, and they've refused to identify the officers involved.

Police Chief Tom Sanchez was out of town Thursday and could not be
reached for comment.

None of the reports made by the officers has been made
public.

Denver police spokeswoman Mary Thomas said those reports would be
treated as statements that will be used by internal affairs
investigators. They also will be turned over to the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration, which was conducting the investigation
that led to Monday's chase.