$450,000 award OKd for victim of police beating
The City Council on Tuesday approved paying $450,000 to settle a suit brought by an African American car theft suspect whose videotaped beating by an LAPD officer drew comparisons to the infamous assault on Rodney G. King.
Stanley Miller, 39, of Compton was kneed and then struck 11 times with a large metal flashlight by Officer John J. Hatfield on June 23, 2004. The beating, which was captured by a TV news helicopter crew, occurred at the end of a high-speed 21-mile car chase.
Although prosecutors never pressed charges against Hatfield, Police Chief William J. Bratton fired him in August 2005 and announced that the department would phase out the use of the large metal flashlights.
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