Panel Urges Suspension of Officer Who Stood by at King Beating

Paul Gebhardt, one of two dozen law-enforcement officers who were bystanders during the Rodney G. King beating, was found guilty Friday by a Los Angeles Police Department administrative panel that recommended he be suspended without pay for 10 days.

The 18-year police veteran was found guilty of failing to report the incident to his supervisors. But he was found not guilty of failing to stop the beating, which was caught on videotape and led to fundamental reforms in the department.

The discipline was announced after Gebhardt, 49, attended a two-day closed hearing in which he attempted to defend his actions at the scene of the March, 1991, beating in Lake View Terrace.

The LAPD has held seven administrative Board of Rights hearings into the incident, and Gebhardt’s penalty is the second-harshest recommended so far. The most severe recommendation was for Officer Louis Turiaga, who drew a 44-day suspension.

Police officials have declined to discuss details of the board hearings because of the pending trial of the four officers charged in the King case.

When Gebhardt testified during the first trial of the officers in Simi Valley last year, he said he believed King did not obey officers’ instructions during the arrest, particularly orders to lie still on the ground.

“He wasn’t listening to the commands, and he was moving about,” Gebhardt testified.

He also testified at the time that he saw Officer Timothy E. Wind--one of the four accused policemen--strike King four times with a baton. He added that he never saw Wind kick King.

An amateur videotape of the incident, however, shows Wind and Officer Laurence M. Powell repeatedly hitting King with their batons. It also shows them kicking him.

The final determination of punishment rests with police Chief Willie L. Williams.