5:07 p.m.
According to an account written by the Jackson-Chavis Justice Committee, a support group established soon after the incident, Jackson had just stood up to watch the Inglewood police approach when he was hit--unprovoked--by one of the officers, after which "other officers began to hit Donovan all at once."
That blow, if it occurred, is not definitively captured on tape. Police reports and Chavis concur that officers knocked Jackson to the ground, and one of the security camera sequences does show the youth on the pavement as an officer jerks his arm quickly.
From that point forward, the security cameras clearly depict a scuffle.
Chavis, in an interview long after the incident, said the Inglewood officers "took turns beating [Jackson] in the face. My son did nothing." During this pummeling--according to Joe Hopkins, who briefly served as the father's attorney--one of the other officers accidentally struck Morse in the head, causing him to bleed. One officer, he said, then put his knee in Jackson's back.
The officers, Hopkins said, then "slammed" Jackson onto the pavement after picking him up by the seat of his pants. Morse, he said, hit the boy twice with a closed fist.
Law enforcement officials offer a significantly different account. The versions presented by sheriff's deputies and Inglewood police are not identical, though they generally parallel one another.
In his report, Deputy Lopez said Jackson "lunged at me, raising his hands in front of him." Lopez said he crouched and tried to push Jackson into the patrol car, but couldn't.
Darvish, slightly more specific, said Jackson had hit Lopez in the upper chest and lower neck with both fists. Darvish added that he put his hands on the back of Jackson's neck, and the three officers managed to pull Jackson down.
"As we were going to the ground," Darvish added, "Jackson was able to free his arms from Officer Morse and Deputy Lopez."
"As Officer Morse was pushing Jackson's hand away, the button on his uniform broke off, causing Jackson to lose his grip," Darvish continued. "Jackson then used his right hand and grabbed the top portion of Officer Morse's left ear. Jackson then pulled his hand in a downward motion, at which time Officer Morse felt a sharp pain on the left side of [his] head."
Later, Morse would be seen bleeding from below his left ear.
Worried that Jackson was pulling him into a vulnerable position, Darvish wrote, "I punched him two times in the face, using my right hand."
On the security tape, other Inglewood officers are visible in the altercation with Jackson. And in a clearer view of that section of the altercation, the scrum appears intense, with officers and Jackson tumbling over one another.
Finally, one Inglewood officer, Mariano Salcedo, grabbed Jackson by the legs, Darvish wrote. The two deputies and Morse then turned him onto his stomach--at this point, the two agencies' accounts mesh--and handcuffed him.