LAPD: No cops fired over May Day melee

Legal settlements linked to pro-immigration rally cost the city $13 million

Archival video

Immigration rally investigation continues
May 3, 2007: The Los Angeles Police Department continues its investigation into whether officers used unnecessary force during an immigration rally. NBC's Peter Alexander reports.

Nightly News

Archival video

'Police went absolutely berserk'
May 4, 2007: Telemondo anchor Pedro Sevcec, who was in the middle of conducting a live interview when the Los Angeles police disturbance erupted, describes what happened to MSNBC-TV's Alex Witt.

MSNBC

Video: Crime & courts

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updated 10:09 a.m. ET July 1, 2009

LOS ANGELES - None of the Los Angeles police officers who pummeled demonstrators with batons and fired rubber bullets during a pro-immigration rally will be fired, officials said Tuesday.

Police Chief William Bratton had asked for four officers to be dismissed. But he said that the stiffest penalty imposed by a department disciplinary board was a 20-day suspension for one officer.

The chief does not have the authority to remove an officer.

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Attorney Luis Carillo, who represents 40 demonstrators who sued the city over the May Day melee in 2007, calls the decision a "slap on the wrist."

The melee in MacArthur Park has cost the city $13 million in legal settlements. Forty-two people were injured, including nine journalists.

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