The Region - News from Nov. 8, 1985

Saying it made a clerical error, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office revised the death certificate of a Los Angeles man who died after being struck on the head with a police baton. Coroner’s spokesman Bill Gold said the death of William Roy Retana, 26, was originally listed as accidental on the death certificate. However, Retana’s death had previously been ruled a homicide by a medical examiner, but the death certificate was filled out incorrectly, Gold said. Retana died Sunday after being in a coma since Oct. 19, when he scuffled with three Los Angeles police officers. Police said that Retana, a suspect in a break-in in the 3900 block of Glenfeliz Boulevard, had been drinking and resisted arrest when he was struck by a baton blow that glanced off his shoulder and hit him above his left ear. The incident is still under investigation, police said.