More Oversight of LAX Police Urged

A Los Angeles councilman called Friday for more oversight of the independent police department at Los Angeles International Airport following an incident last weekend in which an officer used a stun gun to subdue a 78-year-old Lancaster man.

Retired engineer William Albert Lamb, who had come to the airport police station on Dec. 4 looking for an impounded car, became belligerent and yelled threats, according to a statement released by the city’s airport agency. Police twice used a stun gun to subdue him, and Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics later treated him for a wrist abrasion.

City Councilman Jack Weiss said he was frustrated by the lack of information about the incident and added that the altercation underscored the need for civilian oversight of the airport’s police force.

“At the LAPD, you have an inspector general who is independent and aggressive,” said Weiss, who has repeatedly called for airport police to be merged with the Los Angeles Police Department.

“Los Angeles sheriffs have an office of review that is independent and aggressive. The airport police has none of that. So what confidence should the public have that this investigation is ... being done appropriately?”

Weiss said he plans to bring the incident up at the City Council’s Public Safety Committee meeting on Monday.

The incident marked the third time this year that airport police used force. “Rarely do airport police find it necessary,” airport spokesman Paul Haney said in a statement. “Last Saturday’s incident was only the third thus far in 2004, during a period in which more than 50 million passengers were served at LAX.” All the incidents were considered minor, he added.

Airport officials could provide no information on the previous incidents, and said that they have released all the information on the Dec. 4 altercation that is required by law. They said they could not release the police report because the city attorney’s office is considering filing misdemeanor charges against Lamb for disturbing the peace and delaying or obstructing an officer.

Lamb could not be reached for comment.

Airport police are completing two reports on the incident, and said in a statement that a preliminary review shows “there appears to be no evidence indicating the airport police officers’ use of force did not comport with the law and department policy.”

“Although the suspect was elderly, his size and strength were considered by the police officers to be exceptional given his age,” said the statement, which was released in response to questions from the media.

Lamb, who is 6 feet 1 and weighs 170 pounds, came to the airport police station Dec. 4 looking for his car, which officers had impounded and refused to release because it had an expired registration, the statement said.

After finding his vehicle in the airport’s police lot, Lamb returned to the police station and “began to argue with police officers, became extremely irate, made threats, moved repeatedly toward the officers who asked him to keep his distance,” the statement said.

He resisted officers’ attempts to search him for weapons and to restrain him, the statement said, leading officers to show him the stun gun and then to use the device twice.