Case of Officer on Trial in Videotaped Beating Goes to Jury

Jury deliberations began Tuesday in the federal civil trial of a Compton police officer sued for $5 million by a teen-ager he beat with a baton last July for interfering with a social worker.

Felipe Soltero, 18, wants the panel to find that Officer Michael Jackson used excessive force in trying to make the July 29 arrest. The plaintiff seeks $5 million in compensation for the injuries he suffered.

Soltero also is seeking $1 million in punitive damages from Jackson and Compton police Chief Hourie Taylor.

Jackson, sent to the Soltero mobile home in a West 156th Street trailer park to help a county social worker interview the youth’s siblings, claims that the teen-ager threatened him and his sister punched the officer.

Jackson’s lawyer contends that his client used “reasonable and necessary” force to protect himself from a combative teen-ager.

A neighbor videotaped 59 seconds of the brawl between the Latino youth and the black officer, then sold it to a local news station. Portions of it were replayed on news programs nationwide.