Funds for Family : Police Go to Bat for Slain Detective

More than 200 bat-wielding officers from law-enforcement agencies throughout Southern California gathered at an Encino park Saturday to do battle.

The occasion was not a rumble, however, but a fund-raiser for the family of a North Hollywood police detective who was slain in a drive-by shooting last Halloween.

Organizers of the two-day Tom Williams Memorial Softball Tournament, being played at the Hjelte Sports Center this weekend, say proceeds could total $3,000.

But Williams’ widow, Norma, said the turnout of more than 400 players and spectators, who came to honor her husband and engage in America’s favorite pastime, was the best gift she and her family could receive.

Offers Moral Support

“It’s been a wonderful tribute,” said Williams, who attended the tournament with her two children. “Something like this helps us 1,000%.”

Her husband, Detective Thomas C. Williams, was shot and killed Oct. 31 outside a Canoga Park church school as he picked up his 6-year-old son. Williams, 42, managed to tell his son to duck. The boy was unharmed.

Los Angeles police have called the killing an act of vengeance allegedly committed by a man Williams had testified against hours earlier in a San Fernando courtroom. The man, Daniel Steven Jenkins, 30, and three others await trial on charges of conspiracy and murder in connection with the killing.

The Los Angeles Police Department’s North Hollywood division, where Williams had worked since 1974, fielded one of 16 teams that entered the tournament. Detective Gary Sampson, head of the North Hollywood detectives, said Williams enjoyed playing softball with his colleagues.

‘Good Family Man’

“He was a good officer and a good family man,” Sampson said of the 13-year veteran.

Teams participating in the tournament included members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputies, Beverly Hills and Culver City police departments, Los Angeles County marshals, the state police and the Los Angeles Fire Department. One team, called Club Fed, included members of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the U. S. Border Patrol.

Each team paid a $165 entry fee for the tournament, the chief source of the funds raised. Hot dogs and T-shirts were also sold.

One of the tournament organizers, Los Angeles Officer Bart Landesman, said he hopes to make the tournament an annual event, with the proceeds going to families of officers killed or disabled in the line of duty.

“There are police softball tournaments all year long, but ours is special because it’s for a cause,” Landesman said.