KTLA News: "Demonstration against police involvement in deaths of Chicano men" (1979)
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Description:
The KTLA newsfilm collection at the UCLA Film & Television Archive consists of cut and unedited stories, outtakes and fill footage, originally shot on 16mm reversal film stock with magnetic soundtrack. Some footage, particularly material not used for broadcast, may be without sound.
Title: “Demonstration against police involvement in deaths of Chicano men” Date: June 26, 1979.
Summary: On June 27, 1979, Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Grace Davis and Miguel Garcia, an attorney speaking on behalf of the Coalition Against Police Abuse, met with prosecutors in the District Attorney’s office to discuss the way abuse and crimes by police are investigated. The meeting focused on the deaths of two men, Reyes Martinez, who died of head injuries after being taken into police custody, and Abel Gill, who was shot by a deputy sheriff after reportedly trying to ram a patrol car. In this clip, reporter Stan Chambers covers a demonstration in front of the Criminal Courts Building to protest against the deaths of Gill and Martinez. Following the meeting at the DA’s office, 200 demonstrators marched from the Criminal Courts Building to a nearby park. Miguel Garcia addresses the crowd stating that it’s the community’s responsibility to organize and keep pressure on the agencies in the criminal justice system. He also expresses his frustration that no action has been taken yet in other cases where people have died, such as the shooting of Eula Love. Garcia states that he sees the investigations into the deaths of Reyes Martinez and Abel Gill as a test of new people in the DA’s office (Johnnie Cochran and Gil Garcetti) and that the cases are prosecutable for murder or manslaughter. Some segments containing the reporter's voiceover are audio only; additional footage lacks sound.
© The Regents of the University of California
Complete Record: The KTLA newsfilm collection at the UCLA Film & Television Archive consists of cut and unedited stories, outtakes and fill footage, originally shot on 16mm reversal film stock with magnetic soundtrack. Some footage, particularly material not used for broadcast, may be without sound. Title: “Demonstration against police involvement in deaths of Chicano men” Date: June 26, 1979. Summary: On June 27, 1979, Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Grace Davis and Miguel Garcia, an attorney speaking on behalf of the Coalition Against Police Abuse, met with prosecutors in the District Attorney’s office to discuss the way abuse and crimes by police are investigated. The meeting focused on the deaths of two men, Reyes Martinez, who died of head injuries after being taken into police custody, and Abel Gill, who was shot by a deputy sheriff after reportedly trying to ram a patrol car. In this clip, reporter Stan Chambers covers a demonstration in front of the Criminal Courts Building to protest against the deaths of Gill and Martinez. Following the meeting at the DA’s office, 200 demonstrators marched from the Criminal Courts Building to a nearby park. Miguel Garcia addresses the crowd stating that it’s the community’s responsibility to organize and keep pressure on the agencies in the criminal justice system. He also expresses his frustration that no action has been taken yet in other cases where people have died, such as the shooting of Eula Love. Garcia states that he sees the investigations into the deaths of Reyes Martinez and Abel Gill as a test of new people in the DA’s office (Johnnie Cochran and Gil Garcetti) and that the cases are prosecutable for murder or manslaughter. Some segments containing the reporter's voiceover are audio only; additional footage lacks sound. © The Regents of the University of California
Transcription
There was a large demonstration in front of the criminal courts building today. They were protesting law enforcement involvement in the deaths of Abel Gil and Reyes Martinez. Martinez, who was arrested on burglary charges, was found unconscious in his cell and later died at County USC Medical Center. 17-year-old Gild was accidentally shot by deputy sheriff while being taken into custody after a high-speed chase. Corer's inquests in both cases arrived at similar verdicts. They died at the hands of another and not by accident. A delegation, including Deputy Mayor Grace Davis, met with officials in the district attorney's office for over an hour today. After the session, the demonstrators, about 200 strong, marched down Broadway from the criminal courts building to the park on the site of the old state building. Co-chairperson Miguel Garcia told the group what happened in the meeting. I'm sorry that we really don't have much to tell you today because all the district attorney's office said was what it said many times before. The investigation is still in progress and so we can't tell you anything. One thing they did say which shows the strategy of police officers all over this county is that whenever their conduct is brought into question, they're not going to speak. They're not going to speak because they don't want to say something that could incriminate them. [Music] platform. We must have a candidate. >> Jail killer cop. >> Jail killer cop. >> Killer copill. [Applause] Allow the community to see these police officers defend themselves in front of a court of law. That's all we're Next, the coalition is planning to take its case to the Los Angeles Police Commission. They say they'll make specific recommendations on how to eliminate police shootings. Stan Chambers from downtown Los Angeles reporting for News at 10. Stop police brutality. Killer cops. Stop police brutality. Killer cops. Stop police brutality. Killer cops. >> Stop police brutality. Killer cops. >> Stop police. >> Justice. No. >> Justice. >> No. >> No. >> No. [Music] >> What do we want? >> Justice. >> What do we want? >> Right. All right. All right. [Music] Do we want >> it? [Music] Stop police brutality. [Music] is a responsibility within our own communities to organize ourselves and to keep the pressure on those agencies and the criminal justice system that do not act that do not prosecute when clearly there are cases to be resolved by juries in this county. Certainly the case of Ula Love is one that was not only tragic as called by everyone but is one where justice has was not done. It was the case of a woman that died at the hands of two police officers with their guns being emptied into that body of the woman with her children there. The district attorney's office took no action. We have two other cases where Cho brothers died at the hands of police officers. Reyes Martinez died at the custody of police over in the valley. His bra his body was so brutally beaten that I don't know if channel 2 is here but also to express what we feel is the frustration of our people because we see no action on the part of agencies and the criminal any one of them. So what we found out today is that there have been some changes within the district attorney's office. But what we told them today is that those changes are not enough. And we realize that the job of the district attorney's office, as they said, is not an easy one. But by the very same token, when they accept that position, it is a position of public trust. It is a position where we need men and women of integrity. And we want to see some action. There are two new individuals in the district attorney's office that Johnny Cochran and Gil Garcetti. What we told them is that these cases are their test. We feel that there are prosecutable cases for murder or for manslaughter at least in these cases and we want to see them quickly resolved. There was a delegation of eight >> police commission. They say they make specific rap commarity. Okay. >> Okay. Demonstration.
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