'A test of the new LAPD'

That's what Chief Bratton, Mayor Hahn and many community spokespeople are saying about the response over the coming weeks and months to the videotaped arrest of car theft suspect Stanley Miller. He's the black man who, while on the ground with other officers on top of him, was struck 11 times by a flashlight swung by officer John Hatfield, the seven-year veteran (a Latino, according to Bratton) who had just chased Miller through South L.A. and Compton. Both Bratton and Hahn say the tape suggests questionable conduct by Hatfield, but they urge patience for internal probes by the department and its independent Inspector General to run their course. Bratton and Hahn appeared live on the "Today" show this morning and spoke to a few dozen reporters yesterday, trying to show that the official response to this incident is much different than the LAPD brass' defiant tone after the videotaped (and much more egregious) Rodney King beating in 1991. The Times alone had at least five reporters at yesterday's Parker Center press conference.

L.A. Times:
   Bratton ID's officers
   Hahn put in middle
   Bratton voices trust in subordinates
   Steve Lopez: I saw what I saw
   Editorial: All eyes on LAPD
Daily News: 'Will go where truth takes us'
NBC4: Concerns about LAPD reforms
NYT: L.A. moves to ease tensions