Panel Is Critical of Police Acts : Demonstration: Commission says officers’ overzealousness led to violence in janitors’ protest march.

The Los Angeles Police Commission on Tuesday concluded that a protest by striking janitors last summer turned violent because police were overzealous in chasing protesters who refused to disperse and because union organizers were too secretive about their plans.

Sixteen people were injured and more than 40 were arrested during the June 15 confrontation, which took place as the Justice for Janitors march moved on Century City.

The commission, which was ordered by Mayor Tom Bradley to investigate the incident, also called for changes in the way Los Angeles police officers handle protest marches, and recommended development of a departmentwide training program to teach officers how to deal with demonstrations.

The march turned ugly when 100 police officers formed a line and attempted to disperse the crowd as it headed toward Century City. The marchers linked arms and walked defiantly toward the officers.

Justice for Janitors, the group that sponsored the demonstration, later said that most of those injured suffered broken bones and concussions, and one woman had a miscarriage. They also said that during the scuffle, police knocked many of the demonstrators to the ground, and chased others to an underground parking area where more arrests were made.

Although the Police Commission’s investigation laid responsibility for the confrontation on both police supervisors and union organizers, the commission was particularly critical of the officers who pursued the fleeing demonstrators.

Chief Daryl F. Gates agreed.

“Clearly the department is not and was not happy with what occurred on that particular day,” Gates said. “We’ve been dealing with labor disputes for years and are pretty proud of how we’ve done. But this is one of those unfortunate incidents where it did not work.”

He added that the officers should have maintained their composure and not hunted down those marchers who ran to the garage. “We should have stopped at the curb,” he said. “We broke down our line and that was a break in our discipline.”

Bill Ragen, an organizer for Local 399 of the Hospital and Service Employees Union, said the garage was where much of the police brutality occurred. “That’s where a lot of people got beaten and hurt trying to get the hell out of there,” he said.

The commission also determined that police did not adequately announce their dispersal order, a fact that James Wood, the No. 2 official with the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, said could have prevented many injuries. “A 30-second order to disperse is unreasonable,” he said. “You can’t comply.”

The commission also called for greater communication between police and demonstration organizers in the future.

Commissioner Reva B. Tooley pointed out that union members “were less than forthcoming” in their march plans, “thereby depriving the (Police) Department of valuable information and insight in what was bound to be a volatile situation.”

“For its part,” she said, “the department failed to stay in touch with union leaders along the route and thereby missed the opportunity to enlist their aid in controlling a situation they believed was escalating.”