COPS' ASSAULT TRIAL BEGINS

Varying Stories Make Credibility Key Issue

Calvin Brooks rapped on a Dodge Durango idling near an East Palo Alto
7-Eleven two years ago with a handful of crack cocaine and no idea of
the trouble behind those tinted windows.

The trouble, prosecutors say, was two East Palo Alto police
officers.

Those officers -- Eddie Rivers and Johnny Taflinger -- went on trial
Monday, accused of assault for chasing down Brooks that night and
beating him.

And for the first time Monday, the officers' sides of the story began
to emerge -- not one of vigilantes, but of vigilant off-duty cops,
trying unsuccessfully to arrest a brash drug dealer.

The rare felony trial against law enforcement in San Mateo County
Superior Court will revolve largely around the credibility of Brooks,
the officers and a handful of witnesses, including a fellow cop and a
young couple who thought they were going to a nightclub with some new
friends but ended up key witnesses in a police brutality case.

There are as many stories of what happened that night as there are
characters. The officers face up to seven years in prison, depending
on who jurors decide is telling the truth.

Will the jury believe Brooks was a vulnerable and easy victim who had
no idea the men who beat him were cops? Or is he a manipulative
substance abuser who has a history of showing up at the Stanford
Hospital emergency room and has -- in the words of defense attorney
Craig Brown -- a "rap sheet as long as your arm"?

Will jurors believe David Carson, an East Palo Alto police officer,
was a whistle-blower who did the right thing when he heard the story
of the beating? Or was he a jealous cop with a history of lying to
investigators?

Cops Called Drunk

The trial began with prosecutor Rick Good describing how the officers
drunkenly attacked Brooks in August 2004 after asking him for drugs as
they sat off-duty and drunk in a friend's sport-utility vehicle.

The prosecutor said Carson will testify that one of the officers,
Rivers, and a young Explorer Scout told him about the beating and that
he later secretly taped them.

Testimony from the driver of the SUV and her husband seemed to
buttress at least some of the prosecutor's version of events.

Lucinda Barron, the driver, testified Monday that she and her husband
had been at a party that night with the two officers, scout Eddi Tapia
Torres and another man known only as "Juan." The men in the group
were drunk when they left to go to a nightclub, stopping on the way to
buy some cigarettes and an energy drink.

Barron testified that a black man knocked on the window and mentioned
something about "20 bucks," sparking a chase. When she caught up to
the group, she said she got a brief glimpse of the man lying on the
street with his arm over his head. She said the officers and the
scout, laughing, then piled back into the SUV, and they all went to
San Jose to dance and drink some more.

Her husband, Rafael Barron, who admitted he was very drunk that night,
said he saw even more. He testified that he saw the men pinning the
dealer down and someone shouting, "I told you never to sell drugs
around here."

Trying to make arrest

But William Rapoport, a lawyer for Rivers, said there was no attack
and that his client was simply trying to make an arrest that night.

"At worst, Eddie Rivers is guilty of trying to stop drug sales in his
community," he said. While chasing Brooks to arrest him, Rivers ran
into a tree and lost the man, Rapoport said.

Brown, Taflinger's lawyer, suggested that his client heard a scuffle
in the bushes near where Tapia Torres and Juan had been. Brown seemed
to be suggesting that if Brooks had been assaulted, those two may have
been responsible.

Seeking Windfall

The defense lawyers accused Brooks of lying about the alleged attack
so he could reap a windfall through a private lawsuit he has filed
against the city.

"Calvin Brooks is interested in being paid by the taxpayers of East
Palo Alto," said Brown. Brown said Brooks was frequently in and out
of Stanford Hospital for treatment of pain related to sickle cell
anemia -- and that Brooks had previously reported to doctors attacks
by unknown assailants.

While Good said doctors diagnosed Brooks as potentially having a
broken rib after the attack, X-rays were negative. Defense attorneys
said they will introduce testimony that Brooks had no external signs
of injury when he went into the hospital that night.

The defense lawyers also said Carson concocted conversations with the
young scout and Rivers because he was jealous of the veteran officer's
accomplishments. Prosecutors acknowledged that Carson had previously
lied during two unrelated internal affairs investigations -- because,
Good said, Carson feared retaliation within the police department.

Good said Carson learned about the assault when he saw a scratch on
Rivers' arm and asked what happened. Carson eventually went to the San
Mateo County district attorney's office to report his concerns.

Tapia Torres, who is not expected to be a witness, will be tried separately.