Jan. 1, 1943: This is the beginning of the Stanley H. Beebe case, in which LAPD officers were accused of beating a suspect who died of his injuries.  Beebe, an accountant, was arrested on a streetcar at 1st and Hill or 3rd and Hill and charged with public intoxication. He died of peritonitis and said he had been kicked in the stomach by a police officer.

The investigation into Beebe’s death was expanded when the district attorney’s office received more complaints about LAPD officers beating drunks. The Los Angeles County Grand Jury opened an inquiry into Beebe’s death, as did a state Assembly committee. After the investigation, Assemblyman Chester Gannon of Sacramento called the LAPD “The storm troopers of Los Angeles and a law unto themselves.”