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Inglewood cops post bail, remain on leave

Morse was indicted Wednesday on assault charges.

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Jeremy Morse, the Inglewood police officer seen on an amateur videotape violently arresting a teenager, pleaded innocent Thursday to an assault charge.

The charge of assault under the color of authority carries a maximum sentence of three years in state prison and a $10,000 fine.

Morse's partner, Bijan Darvish, also pleaded innocent to a lesser charge of filing a false police report.

Bail was set at $25,000 for each officer. They both posted bail several hours after the hearing and were released.

Darvish, with the department for two years, was placed on paid leave Thursday and Morse, a three-year veteran of the force, remains suspended, the police department said.

GALLERY Caught on tape    CNN NewsPass VIDEO A Los Angeles County grand jury has returned an assault indictment against the Inglewood police officer seen on an amateur videotape violently arresting a teen-ager. CNN's Eric Horng reports (July 18) Play video CNN's Connie Chung talks to the lawyer for the police officer accused of beating an Inglewood, California teenager (July 12) Play video   RESOURCES • Read the complaint: Jackson v. CIty of Inglewood (FindLaw) (PDF) • CNN Access: Supervisor should have been at beating scene  • Transcript: Officer relieved of duty

Morse's attorney, John Barnett, said he trusted "that an unbiased jury will acquit him and find that the use of force was justified under the circumstance."

That circumstance, Barnett said, was Morse's allegation that 16-year-old Donovan Jackson was grabbing his crotch as he was being arrested July 6. On the tape, Morse is clearly seen picking Jackson up by his shirt, pushing him onto the trunk of a police car, and punching him while he is handcuffed.

Johnnie Cochran, the renowned defense attorney representing Jackson, said that wasn't the case at all.

"The allegation is not true," he said. "You will never see this young man grab the officer in the crotch. In fact, the evidence is going to be that this young man was in fact grabbed in the crotch, not the other way around."

He applauded Barnett's tactic as an attorney, but said it will not hold up.

"Nothing is going to clear his client of what took place here," Cochran said. "He will never be able to explain a 16-year-old, or any person, in custody slammed on the police car, punched in the face when he's helpless. There is no explanation for that."

Cochran spoke at a news conference with the teen at his side. The attorney held up the boy's right wrist for reporters, showing scars left over from the handcuffs. He also said Jackson "has bruises all over his body."

"I want you to understand this is a 16-year-old child who had done nothing to warrant this," he said. "There is no excuse for it, and we are seeking and demanding justice on behalf of this child."

He also thanked the man who filmed the incident, and blasted Darvish, who is charged with filing a false police report. "He didn't know there was a video. That's why he lied in the report. The video is why we're here," Cochran said.

The incident has sparked protests and calls for Morse's termination and arrest. The Rev. Al Sharpton urged the U.S. Justice Department to investigate an alleged pattern of police brutality in Inglewood and has even called on President Bush to take action.

Federal, state and local agencies launched investigations into the matter.

According to police, the alleged beating happened after police pulled behind the car being driven by Jackson's father, Coby Chavis, at a gas station. Officers noticed that Chavis' car had expired plates and later discovered his driver's license was suspended.

Chavis' attorneys say the officers questioned Chavis for no reason, and later began to beat Jackson and choke him with a chain as the teen was leaning over the police cruiser.

Father and son filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Inglewood, Los Angeles County, Morse and the three other officers in the video, three sheriff's deputies, and other unnamed officers from both departments who were at the scene of the arrest. Family attorneys allege both Chavis and Jackson were beaten and injured by the officers.

The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday that a second officer also struck Jackson before the videotape rolled.

Darvish wrote in a police report obtained by the Times that he punched Jackson twice in the face before the teen was handcuffed because he was afraid the youth would hit him.

The report also cites Morse as saying he struck Jackson after the handcuffed youth grabbed his testicles, causing "extreme pain."

Joe Hopkins, an attorney for Jackson's family, told the Times he was skeptical of the police report. He said he believes that all four Inglewood officers at the scene "took turns" beating Jackson before the videotaping began.

"What we see on the tape is the second beating," he said.

The videotape was made by Mitchell Eugene Crooks, an unemployed northern California man, a fugitive since 1999 when he was convicted in Placer County of driving under the influence, hit-and-run and petty theft. He was flown to Auburn on Friday to serve a seven-month criminal sentence.