‘We’re Behind You 100%’ : Fund-Raising Beer Bash Backs 2 Accused Officers

The jukebox blared rock ‘n’ roll, the beer flowed and the pool table was never still. The giant banner draped over the bar read: “Mark/Mark, We’re behind you 100%”

The banner referred to Mark Dickey and Mark Ramsey, two white Long Beach police officers who are facing misdemeanor criminal charges stemming from their highly publicized arrest of black activist Don Jackson after a traffic stop.

Dozens of off-duty officers crowded into Whitey’s Northtown Tavern in North Long Beach for a daylong beer bash to show support and solidarity for the accused pair while bolstering their defense fund.

The revelers included officers from departments as far away as Hawthorne and Montebello. And lots from Long Beach.

They started showing up shortly after opening at 8 a.m. By evening, the crowd was elbow to elbow in the little bar on South Street. About 350 patrons signed in on a list and bar owner Ralph (Whitey) White estimated that about 500 supporters, including many who are not police officers, stopped by during the Monday fund-raiser.

“I don’t think it could have gone any better,” said White, a Bell Gardens police retiree who bought the bar last June.

Every officer who walked through the door coughed up $5 or more as a donation. White estimated that the fund-raiser netted more than $8,000 for the legal defense fund.

“It shows a hell of a lot of support from other police agencies,” White said.

One officer said Dickey and Ramsey appeared to be in the best spirits he had seen them in since the Jan. 14 incident. In a case that received nationwide attention, Jackson and a partner drove an old car to Long Beach with an NBC crew in tow to conduct a self-styled “sting” operation to show brutality and racism by Long Beach police, who, he said, were the subject of many complaints by minorities.

Dickey was secretly videotaped by a hidden NBC camera as he appeared to swear at Jackson, a Hawthorne police sergeant on long-term stress disability leave, and then push Jackson’s head through a plate-glass window.

Jackson, who had his own lavish fund-raiser at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel emceed by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, was charged with obstructing police officers, but the case was dropped because of insufficient evidence. Then, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office charged Dickey and Ramsey with filing a false report and Dickey was charged with assault.

After the Long Beach City Council refused Dickey and Ramsey’s request for the city to pick up the tab for their legal defense, White said he decided to have the fund-raiser. Beer distribution companies donated some door prizes, along with dinners for four at a local restaurant.

As it turns out, the officers did not have to raise money after all. The Long Beach City Council reversed itself late Tuesday night and voted to pay for the defense of Dickey and Ramsey.

Becky Bishop, the wife of a Long Beach police officer who spearheaded a drive to pressure the council into the switch, said the funds raised at Whitey’s can be put to another worthy cause by the Police Officers Assn.

“We’re going to have a big, fat widows and orphans fund,” she said.

Mike Tracy, president of the Long Beach Police Officers Assn., said the event at Whitey’s showed Dickey and Ramsey that their fellow officers back them. “I think it’s outstanding,” he said. “It’s nice to see cops turning out. . . . The intention is to send a message to (Dickey and Ramsey) that we love you.”

Alleges ‘Political Deal’

Ray Barnhart, a 28-year Long Beach police veteran who retired in 1976, said Dickey and Ramsey are victims of a “political deal” by Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, who is “held captive” by black, homosexual and Jewish interests.

Another officer, who requested anonymity because of a department directive that prohibits officers from commenting on the case, said Dickey and Ramsey responded properly when Jackson jumped out of the car on the night of Jan. 14 and confronted officers about why his car had been stopped.

“I thought Officer Dickey used a lot of restraint,” the officer said. “He did everything he could to control that situation.”

David Lynn, a spokesman for the Police Misconduct Lawyer Referral Service in Los Angeles who accompanied Jackson to Long Beach last January, said the fund-raiser for Dickey and Ramsey “speaks for itself.”

Dickey and Ramsey’s “support is from the (police officers association), which is the only organization that has supported them to date,” Lynn said. He said the organization is “made up of their own people of like mind and color.”