KTLA News: "Chicano spokesperson seeks police accountability" (1971)

we had a pretty peaceful dancer we had about 4 to 500 people here attending our dance and we were charging 50 cents so they could raise funds for the NYC workers and at that time uh some people were inside and a couple people were out here a couple crowds of people were out here that at that time had not paid uh to get into the dance that time I was standing over there and I saw a squad car arrive at the gas station next door and they made a arrest on two youths uh I was suspected they were miners and I think the charged with uh possession of alcoholic beverages at the time and as they started leaving uh I don't know if if the police officer said something to the youth or something or pushed them into the squad car the wrong way or something but other chos started telling the police to get out Francisco what happened on Friday night well on Friday night we were having a dance here um for the neighborhood youth Corp so in NYC it's a summer project that uh gives chanos another uh minorities of a low-income family uh opportunities to work for the summer so they can buy clothing and whatever to go back to school so we were sponsoring a dance for them along with other uh ferally funded organizations such as joint venture and Las palalas Park and procto here uh dance for them uh cuz it was and they arrested two more chos and threw them in the squad car so at that time I believe they arrested four people after that in around 10 or 15 minutes they returned uh in full riot gear about four squ squad cars two parked up front one at the gas station one across the street over there and I approached him immediately to tell him that everything was under control if they would please leave the area um that we'd handle it with our own security at that time uh four police officers came out of their squad car and they said uh all right the party's over and I go just give us time we'll clear him out and he goes get him out now go just give us time we'll get him out and he goes somebody threw a bottle at our squad car and I go I know just keep it cool if you'd please leave the area cuz you're inciting a riot and we can't we can't be responsible if you remain any longer the longer they Remain the more chances of incidents occurring what was their response um the officer said um that's all right they threw a bottle at our squad car that's all right if they threw a bottle at us we want to go in and bust heads anyways how many people were injured um there was that we know there was about 10 people injured but we don't have all the food reports yet of people that might have been injured and haven't contacted our organization here to to make a report but uh at that time the police officers that did we did talk to uh they didn't want to cooperate at all until they indicate why well because of the bottle being thrown and then another uh officer came and when we were talking to that same officer that just gave him the order and he said uh we'll give you 15 minutes just to get everybody back in he seemed a little more level-headed you know and I told him at that time what are you going to do about this guy that's telling us that he wants to go in and swing clubs and everything Buzz heads and he just he didn't say nothing he goes I'll give you 15 minutes if you can get him under control we'll leave it go so they stayed out there though and at that time we were trying to get everybody inside the yard and we did and we opened the gates and and we didn't charge any admission at that time we just wanted to get the people out of the streets and in there because we felt they might be safer from the police what action is your organization planning to prevent such further incidents in the future well as far as this incident we're planning to press charges on police department for their actions here uh of assault on Miners and also they were we feel that they gathered and uh there was conspiracy on the part of the LAPD to commit an act of inciting a riot on our people and we were seeking out legal Cel on to what steps we're going to take we're also holding a meeting here tonight at 7:00 for the members of The Cho Community to come in and I'm sure other people that have complaints will be here at that time have you made any efforts to contact the police department regarding your feelings no through previous uh experiences with the uh LAPD public relations officers we have a negative uh negative uh feedback from them they they're unwilling to cooperate and and that's what they're getting paid for and they're getting paid at our expense also the public relations and they say that all our organization and the youth and the community all they do when when we meet with police officers is throw wild accusations at them with no Foundation whatsoever what changes would you like to see let's say in the attitude of the police department towards your community first of all we'd like uh we' like the police officers responsible first for this incident to be prosecuted before any change can be really taken we feel that if these officers get away with what they did there can't be any change brought about also the replacement of their public relations officer and the foothill uh police department uh he must be fired immediately cuz he failed to communicate to our people that that he had good intentions as far as our people in avoiding problems here also we feel it's a part a conspiracy on the part of Chief Davis also cuz he has at no time really tried to attempt to really communicate to our people in the past he has shown that he is insensitive to our people's needs and he has shown on TV various times when the Salasar cousins were murdered how he came out in support of his officers when when Salasar cousins were murdered and how he solicited for bail funds so and how the city council supported them and paid the defense of officers before they were even found guilty or non- guilty and they had passed judgment already on the part of Yi also with his statements that he came out so we feel it's a iry on the LAPD on our people it's quite obvious they're here to disrupt our meetings or whatever we have they they Patrol this area excessively and we have no control over it we have no say so in the in as far as what goes on in the police station and uh Community must have a review board of some type with a power to indict officers and prosecute them for their actions such as what happened here on August 27th almost one year after Salasar had been murdered uh in East Los Angeles