Striker Critically Injured by Guard at Mobil Plant

A striking worker at the Mobil Oil refinery in Torrance remained in critical condition at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center on Wednesday, recovering from head injuries he received when a security guard drove into him on Tuesday afternoon.

A spokeswoman at the hospital said that Juan Cannizales, 48, of Lynwood, suffered head trauma when he was thrown onto the hood and windshield of a pickup truck at the entrance to the Mobil refinery.

Torrance police arrested security guard Onna Brown, 20, on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon--his truck--according to police spokesman Ron Traber. Traber said he expects Torrance police to turn the case over to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office for further action on Friday.

‘Not Talking’

“He’s not talking,” Traber said of Brown.

George Hicks, president of Excel Services, the security company that employs Brown and is providing security for Mobil during the 6-week-old strike, said he did not know why Brown came to the refinery on Tuesday.

Brown had been assigned to duty there earlier in the strike but was reassigned as part of a normal rotation, Hicks said. He said Brown has been temporarily suspended, pending further investigation.

C. W. Smith, chairman of the union negotiating committee at the refinery, said members of the union, Local 1-547 of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers, said that there had been a verbal altercation between Brown and pickets about two weeks ago, but that he learned of it only after the Tuesday incident.

Cannizales and Evert Jenkins, 49, of Harbor City were struck by the pickup truck at 12:19 p.m. on Tuesday, according to witnesses, as they were picketing in front of the refinery.

Treated and Released

Jenkins was treated at a hospital and released with a swollen leg. Both men are members of the union, which has been on strike at Mobil in Torrance and in Beaumont, Texas, since Feb. 4.

The primary point of contention in the dispute is the company’s plan to take some jobs that are currently within the jurisdiction of the union and make them management positions.

Mobil has used management personnel to fill in for 450 strikers in Torrance and 1,000 in Beaumont at its highly automated refineries during the strike. There have been no negotiations since the strike began.