1,000 Attend Rites for Slain Rookie Officer

The first police funeral attended by March graduates of the Los Angeles Police Academy was for one of their own.

Two dozen members of the class, tears streaking many of their faces, stood at attention in a line of blue uniforms Friday and snapped crisp salutes as taps was played for Officer James Clark Beyea at Oakwood Memorial Park in Chatsworth.

Beyea, 24, who graduated with them on March 25, was fatally shot about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday in North Hollywood during a struggle for control of his service revolver with a burglary suspect.

His funeral drew about 1,000 mourners, most from law enforcement agencies throughout Southern California. Also in attendence were Beyea’s family, Mayor Tom Bradley, Police Chief Daryl F. Gates and representatives of the Air National Guard unit to which Beyea belonged.

‘Hurts to Lose Him’

“It hurts to lose him,” said Officer William Casey, one of Beyea’s academy classmates. “It hurts when anyone in this profession is killed, but when it is someone that you feel is like a member of your family, it is harder.”

Officer Dave Porras said Beyea, the grandson of a Los Angeles traffic officer, was quick to share action stories from his new job.

“He would tell me about the foot pursuits and the narcotics arrests and the fun he was having,” a tearful Porras said to the overflow crowd at Praiswater Funeral Home in Van Nuys.

“Jim once told me that he couldn’t believe he was actually paid to do police work. But you can’t put a price on what happened this week. Jim was out there because he wanted to be out there.”

Beyea was shot when he confronted a 16-year-old youth suspected of burglarizing an electronics store.

Authorities said Beyea’s killer was Robert Jay Steele, a suspected gang member who was later cornered in the attic of a nearby house and shot to death by other officers when he attempted to reach for a gun. An accused accomplice in the burglary, Albert B. Hernandez, 19, was captured and has been charged with murder and burglary.

The two teen-agers “were both active members” of a street gang that often gathers in East San Fernando Valley parks, including Sun Valley Park, where Steele was also known as a talented member of a youth baseball team, Sgt. Ray Davies said.

Beyea was the first Los Angeles police officer to die in the line of duty in a year and the 175th killed since 1907.