Police Brutality

The City Council on Wednesday agreed to pay nearly $13 million to people injured or mistreated in a May Day melee in MacArthur Park, bringing to more than $30 million the money spent over the last two weeks to settle lawsuits alleging LAPD misconduct. The action served as a reminder of the Los Angeles Police Department's troubled past and its continuing path toward regaining the trust of some city residents and elected officials. For the LAPD, Wednesday's $12.

The attorney for a gang member kicked in the head by an El Monte police officer at the end of a televised car chase thinks his client has a great case. On Thursday, Nick Pacheco filed a $5-million legal claim against the city on behalf of the 23-year-old. But just in case, the attorney said his heavily tattooed client will be getting an extreme makeover in time for a trial, complete with a thick Tom Selleck mustache -- think "Magnum P.I."

After Anthony Goodrow complained that he had been brutalized by Hawthorne police officers during an arrest nearly three years ago, department officials said they "conducted an in-depth and thorough internal investigation." Their conclusion: Officers acted appropriately and did not use excessive force. That finding, however, appears at odds with the city's payment of $1 million in late January to settle Goodrow's lawsuit alleging excessive force.

Transit police Monday wrapped up their investigation into the controversial shooting death of an African American man by an officer and, just hours later, the Bay Area Rapid Transit District board created a panel to oversee police department activities. BART Police Chief Gary Gee said his department forwarded the investigation results Monday morning to the Alameda County district attorney's office, which will decide whether to charge transit Officer Johannes Mehserle in the death of Oscar J.

A videotape shows two Hawthorne police officers slapping high-fives in the aftermath of an arrest in which one of their co-workers allegedly kicked a handcuffed suspect in the face, breaking his jaw. Confronted with the videotape, which was recorded at the city's jail, Hawthorne officials last week paid $1 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the 25-year-old suspect, Anthony Goodrow.

An El Monte police officer is seen on TV news footage kicking a car chase suspect in the head Wednesday after the suspect appears to surrender. Video from KTTV Channel 11 News and KNBC-TV Channel 4 News shows the incident at the end of a car chase that wound through the San Gabriel Valley, ending in a collision in Pico Rivera. The suspect, whom authorities later identified as 23-year-old Richard Rodriguez of El Monte, jumped out of his car and ran.

Graphic video of Oscar J. Grant III's death at an Oakland train station has roiled emotions in the Bay Area, leading to a demonstration at Bay Area Rapid Transit district headquarters and calls for more oversight of the agency's police force. The family of the 22-year-old father, who was shot to death by a BART police officer early on New Year's Day, filed a $25-million wrongful death claim against the agency Tuesday. John L.

In one of his most talked-about lectures, Buddhist monk Ashin Nyanissara tells the legend of a king who ruled more than 2,500 years ago. The king believed that spitting on a hermit brought him good fortune. At first, it worked like a charm, but before long his realm was annihilated under a rain of fire, spears and knives.

Jose Luis Munoz pocketed the $200 "gate money" and jumped inside a prison staff car that drove him to the bus station in Delano, just up California 99 from Bakersfield. Flames fanned by October's Santa Ana winds had Southern California ablaze, but after a year behind bars, he was willing to walk through fire to get home. The bus ticket set him back $20, but the man known by the gang moniker Dopey was returning to Anaheim richer than he ever imagined.

Orange County sheriff's deputies repeatedly shocked a handcuffed prisoner with a Taser, even after he had been strapped into a restraint chair, slammed him onto the floor with a "knee drop" and appeared to hit him in the head while he sat passively on a bench, jail videotapes show.