Santa Monica Police Chief Backs His Officers’ Procedures in Smith Case

Police, responding April 9 to a report of a man waving a gun, used proper procedures when they ordered Santa Monica College track Coach Tommie Smith to drop a starter’s pistol he was using during practice at the college, Santa Monica Police Chief James Keane told Smith this week in a letter.

Kean wrote that the three officers acted after Smith, a 1968 Olympic gold medalist, had been seen “in the area of 16th and Grant streets and (a passerby) observed (Smith) with a gun, ‘waving it around and pointing it at a tree.’ ”

Smith said he had been waiting for his runners to return but added: “I was never waving or pointing (the starter’s pistol).”

The gun Smith was holding, standard track equipment, was a .32-caliber starter’s pistol with a solid barrel incapable of firing bullets. Such pistols fire only blanks.

Keane wrote, “The one officer did have his own gun out as he approached you. He felt that if, in fact, your pistol was a real gun, he would have had quicker access to his gun. At no time did he point the gun at (Smith), only at the ground.”

As the coach’s athletes looked on, Smith said, the police shouted, “Drop it,” and forced him to put his hands behind his back while they frisked him.

The chief said his officers, whom he declined to identify, determined that the starter’s pistol was harmless but “wanted to search (Smith) in case (he) might have other weapons in (his) pockets.”

Earlier, Smith had explained his complaint against the three police officers, saying, “I know they’re doing their job. I just question the way it was done.”

Keane said Friday: “I can’t go asking my officers to go on a gun call wearing big smiles.”