GM, Police to Discuss Raid Across From Plant

General Motors officials and Los Angeles Police, who disagree about the need for Thursday’s mass arrests of GM employees outside the company’s Van Nuys plant, have scheduled a meeting today to discuss the incident.

GM spokesman Harry Kelly said there is no agenda for the meeting. But he said that company officials believe the police action, in which 46 people were arrested, was unnecessary and that they want “to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Kelly said GM officials were not aware of any longstanding problems with drug dealing and public drinking, which police prompted them to send 75 officers to Blythe Street and Van Nuys Boulevard about 9:30 p.m., during a break in the plant’s evening shift.

“We’re certainly not pleased that the incident took place and we’re going to try to get together with the Police Department and with the union, and we’re going to talk about that,” Kelly said.

Union May Join Talks

Scheduled to attend the meeting are Ernie Schaeffer, plant manager, and Art Sjoquist, commanding officer of the Van Nuys Division of the Los Angeles Police Department, whose vice officers planned the action.

Kelly said he did not know if officials of United Auto Workers Local 645 would be included in the session or whether another meeting would be held to include the union. Union officials could not be reached for comment.

Police said that, from Aug. 1 to last Wednesday, there had been 75 arrests at the corner. About 50 of the previous arrests involved drinking; the rest were drug-related, they said.

Planning for the Thursday crackdown began two weeks ago, after undercover vice officers reported that the problems had not abated, vice investigator Brad Berman said.

“It’s all very plain and conspicuous,” Berman said of drinking and drug dealing at the corner. “The narcotics arrests were mostly for what is known as a dime bag of marijuana, mostly about three or four grams.”

Previous Alcohol Arrests

He said that, of about 50 arrests of GM employees at the site before Thursday, almost all involved alcohol.

Of those arrested Thursday, Berman said, 30 to 40 were GM workers.

Forty of the arrests were for drinking in public, police said. One person was arrested on suspicion of possessing cocaine and another on suspicion of possessing marijuana. The others were arrested for interfering with an arrest, police said.

Police said several hundred GM employees gathered as the arrests were made, heckling officers and throwing bottles and cans of beer at them.

Workers claimed that police used excessive force during the incident. Police said they are investigating one woman employee’s complaint that an officer clubbed her in the back for no reason.

Workers have said that union officials are taking affidavits from several members who allege that officers hit them with billy clubs.

Sgt. Joseph Brazas said Friday that the police action stemmed partly from “information we received through GM” that some on-the-job injuries had occurred after workers who had been drinking returned from their 9:30 p.m. break.

But Kelly said the plant does not have a problem with on-the-job injuries. Workers found to have been drinking are either sent home or enrolled in a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program financed jointly by the company and the UAW, he said.

No Advance Warning

Kelly said GM was not informed in advance of the raid.

Police also said they had not alerted the company. But Sgt. Joe Parker, who said he helped supervise the action, maintained that company officials should have been aware of the problem across from the plant.