LA police deny 'attack' on black youth akin to King case

A LOS ANGELES police officer has been suspended from duty after he was caught on video smashing the head of a handcuffed black teenager into the back of a car and punching him in the face during an arrest.

The incident involving 16-year-old Donovan Jackson has led to comparisons with the beating of black motorist Rodney King more than a decade ago.

In that case four white Los Angeles Police Department officers were captured on videotape hitting King with their batons. Their acquittal on assault charges sparked the 1992 LA riots which left 55 people dead in one of the worst civil disturbances in US history.