New Outfit to monitor police brutality

A convicted felon turns cameras on the cops, putting a balance of power, he says, back in the hands of the people.

On May Day, 2007, the Los Angeles police made front page news after clashing with protesters in a public park. Images of baton-wielding officers and cowering protesters, journalists among them, renewed an angry debate over police brutality in a city still scarred by the memory of the Rodney King beating.

Citizen video has left an indelible mark on Los Angeles. The King video is the best-known example, but far from the only one. In 2002, a tourist filmed 16-year-old Donovan Jackson being punched and slammed against a police cruiser in Inglewood.

"This type of stuff happens every day in L.A.," says Sherman Austin, founder of Cop Watch LA, an activist group that was quick to post images and clips of the May Day incident. "It's just a coincidence sometimes there's a video camera around to videotape."

'We want justice'

Norma and Norbieto Martinez are supporters and frequent visitors to the Cop Watch LA office. They feel they have a personal stake in the work.

"My life has been a nightmare since they killed my son,"....

She says they've been offered compensation by the city, but she wants the officers in jail.

"Justice," she says, "that's all we want. Justice."