As the mood of the crowd outside the Staples Center turned quickly from jubilation over a Lakers victory to something more destructive, Los Angeles police knew they had to finely calibrate their response to avoid the public relations debacles of the department's recent past.
Officers had to control a group of "knuckleheads," in the words of Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton, yet avoid trampling the rights of hundreds of people who turned out to celebrate the Lakers' first championship win in seven years.
They could not have a repeat of the immigration rights protest in MacArthur Park in 2007, when police battered dozens of peaceful protesters and journalists with batons and bean-bag rounds, costing the city more than $10 million in legal settlements and prompting an overhaul of the LAPD's crowd-control procedure.
The new strategy: Remove the rabble-rousers, push larger crowds into marginal areas and chase smaller groups until they disperse.
In their Monday morning analysis, police commanders declared the approach a success, limiting injuries and property damage, and showing the public that the department could restrain the use of force.
The crowds did manage to loot several stores, break windshields, vandalize police cars and MTA buses -- as TV helicopters captured the chaos for the world to see. But the LAPD says officers balanced many interests in confining the chaos as best they could.
"We cannot afford to be involved in responding in a knee-jerk way," said Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger. "Too much is at stake. You're talking lives, property and elusive public confidence."
The trouble started at 8:30 p.m., when people outside the Staples Center began lighting Orlando Magic jerseys on fire. Soon, trash cans and trees went up in flames.
Officers ordered the crowd to disperse. But several bands of young men split off. They stomped car windshields, tossed traffic barricades, ripped out parking signs, tagged walls, threw rocks through windows.
Two men ran across a line of police cars and kicked in a windshield.
At Pico Boulevard and Flower Street, a group stormed a vintage shoe store called The Holy Grail and stole nearly 800 pairs of consignment sneakers.
At Grand Avenue and Olympic Boulevard, about 20 men wearing Lakers apparel swarmed into the convenience store at a Shell gas station shouting, "Free soda, free soda." They smashed bottles on the floor, trampled bananas, grabbed what they wanted -- water, chips, candy, six-packs of soda -- and left.
