Top LAPD cop demoted in wake of rally controversy

Story Highlights

• Deputy chief demoted over May 1 immigration rally police acts
• Deputy chief's second in command also removed from job
• Police fired rubber bullets, swung clubs at protesters

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LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A top Los Angeles police official has been demoted and his deputy reassigned after officers under their command attacked demonstrators at an immigration rally, the city's mayor and police chief said Monday.

Lee Carter, the deputy chief in charge of LAPD's central bureau, was demoted a grade to commander and put on paid leave, Police Chief William Bratton announced.

Carter's second-in-command, Cmdr. Lou Gray, was moved out of that job "pending further reassignment by the chief," Bratton said.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ordered a "comprehensive, open review" of the incident after demonstrators and journalists raised allegations of excessive force.

"We're not going to shift the responsibility down the chain of command," Villaraigosa said Monday.

"Accountability begins at the top. What happened on May 1 was wrong, and we're taking immediate action to address it."

Villaraigosa said most police serve "with distinction and honor," but he promised that every "breakdown" in the May 1 rally would be reviewed.

Bratton said officers fired nearly 240 rounds of rubber bullets against participants in the May 1 rally, one of many held across the country in support of legislation that would allow illegal immigrants to eventually earn legal status.

Video showed police shoving and swinging clubs at participants in the rally and some have said they plan to sue the officers. (Watch an L.A. hospital worker say he was struck several times and saw women and children being targeted )

Some of the roughly 600 officers assigned to the demonstration said they had been pelted with stones and other debris, the Los Angeles Police Protective League said.

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