- Police Brutality Watch

Two Palo Alto police officers accused in the 2003 beating of a 59-year-old black man pleaded no contest to a minor charge of unlawful fighting today as prosecutors decided against retrying the pair on felony brutality charges after the first prosecution ended with a mistrial in April. Allowing officers Craig Lee, 42, and Michael Kan, 27, to plead no contest -- which legally has the same impact as a guilty plea -- to the infraction for public fighting is likely to draw the ire of police critics because they'll only pay a $250 fine, face no jail time and are expected to return to police work. But Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Peter Two Palo Alto police officers accused in the 2003 beating of a 59-year-old black man pleaded no contest to a minor charge of unlawful fighting today as prosecutors decided against retrying the pair on felony brutality charges after the first prosecution ended with a mistrial in April. Waite added that officials also were influenced by the difficulty of winning convictions against police, citing the two mistrials that Alameda County prosecutors faced in trying the Oakland police officers knowns as "the Riders" who had been accused of assaulting or framing drug suspects. Waite said the plea deal and the vigorous prosecution send a strong message that police misconduct would not be tolerated. He noted that the Palo Alto Police Department has plans to install video cameras in police cars and has begun retraining all officers to avoid similar clashes in the future. "I think that justice was served," Waite said after the morning hearing in a San Jose courtroom before Judge Andrea Bryan. "We did our best to hold the police accountable and get a fair result for the community." Lee and Kan, who are both Asian-American, are accused of clubbing and pepper-spraying 59-year-old Albert Hopkins on the night of July 13, 2003, after they encountered him sitting in his parked car. Officers had received two reports of suspicious behavior by a man in a parked car, one by a caller and another by a female motorist. [more]