Bloody Christmas (1951) facts for kids
Bloody Christmas was the name given to the severe beating of seven civilians by members of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) on December 25, 1951. The attacks, which left five Mexican American and two white young men with broken bones and ruptured organs, were properly investigated only after lobbying from the Mexican American community. The internal inquiry by Los Angeles Chief of Police William H. Parker resulted in eight police officers being indicted for the assaults, 54 being transferred, and 39 suspended.
The event was fictionalized in the 1990 novel L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy, which was made into a film of the same name in 1997.
Cover-up
Senior LAPD management kept the attack on the prisoners out of the mainstream news for almost three months. Media coverage ignored the beatings on Christmas Day and focused on the brawl the night before. The initial headline of the Los Angeles Times on the incident was "Officers Beaten in Bar Brawl; Seven Men Jailed". However, as Mexican Americans pushed for a focus on police brutality and more reports of violence flooded in, the media began to turn against the LAPD, running stories condemning police tactics and even suggesting the amendment of Section 202 of the Los Angeles city charter.
In March 1952, six of the seven men were charged with battery and disturbing the peace. The prosecution argued that the fight started when the officers asked Jack Wilson to leave the bar peacefully. The defendants testified that the fight began when Officer Trojanowski began hitting Wilson on the head with a blackjack. Judge Joseph L. Call also allowed them to describe how they were beaten after being arrested. The jury found the defendants guilty of two counts of battery and one of disturbing the peace. However, after the verdict was delivered, Judge Call reprimanded the police force for its brutality, calling for an independent investigation of the assault.
Internal investigation
Chief Parker's response to this criticism was defensive. The police department's "war-on-crime" policy had given it an "us versus them" mentality. Parker used the argument that the public had to support the police force to prevent anarchy and lawlessness, saying that any criticism against the LAPD damaged the police’s ability to enforce the law. He even suggested that criminals were alleging police brutality to get him fired so the L.A. underworld could re-establish its illegal activities.
However, as the internal investigation into the beatings progressed, more complaints from other incidents were reported by the media, forcing Parker to act. Eventually a 204-page internal report was compiled by the LAPD. Although it included interviews with more than 400 witnesses, many members of LAPD had tried to impede the investigation through perjury or vague testimony. The report was also contradictory because it revealed that several police officers witnessed the beatings but concluded that "none of the prisoners was physically abused in the manner alleged."
