LAPD blames itself, up to a point

Based on the coverage, the department's long-awaited report blames bad command decisions, gaps in officer training and a small splinter group of trouble-making demonstrators for the May Day melee in MacArthur Park. It's described as amateur hour, right down to the sound truck that would broadcast the dispersal order not showing up and the order finally being given — in English only to a predominantly Spanish-speaking crowd — by copter after officers began forcibly clearing the park. Senior LAPD officials who dropped the ball are dinged, but the report doesn't finger specific officers for their personal decisions to apply batons on journalists and peaceful bystanders and fire rubber bullets into crowds. "Officers struck individuals who appeared to be passively standing in place, not engaging in aggressive and/or combative behavior," the report says. More than 250 legal claims have been filed against the city, and possible criminal investigations — and internal LAPD probes of some two dozen officers — continue. Reaction to the report is so far mixed.

LAT, DN, WitnessLA, full text PDF of report in English and Spanish.