Guardian Angels in Flap Over Scuffle

Seven Guardian Angels were detained by police and cited for alleged misdemeanor battery and false imprisonment after a late-night scuffle with two men on a downtown San Diego street, police reported Friday.

The incident occurred Thursday night after the Angels confronted two men they accused of smoking crack cocaine and urinating in public.

The two men, Melvin Jackson and Thomas Criner, told police they wanted to place the Angels under citizen’s arrest. Witnesses in a nearby bar also told police that Jackson and Criner had done nothing to provoke the fight, police spokesman Bill Robinson said.

The Angels, self-styled crime fighters, were taken into custody for several hours, cited and ordered to appear in court in May.

Weston Conwell, the Angels’ regional coordinator, was outraged by the episode. He said the Angels were trying to place the men under citizen’s arrest.

“In the past we’ve had an excellent relationship with the police,” Conwell said. “But this smacks of harassment.”

The confrontation began about 11:30 p.m. at 9th and F streets when the Angels saw one of the men “lighting something” and the other man allegedly urinating on the side of a building, said Eden A. Dankowski, a 20-year-old in training to be a Guardian Angel. He was among those cited.

Dankowski said one of the men “took a swing” at the Angels. Two Angels “took him down and handcuffed him,” he said.

They uncuffed the man before police arrived, according to Dankowski. But Jackson and Criner told police they wanted to file a complaint. Jackson and Criner were not arrested, and no one was hurt in the incident.

According to Dankowski, the Angels were not given an opportunity to tell the police they had wanted to place the men under citizen’s arrest until hours later. “We were trying do the right thing, “ he said.

Conwell said the incident indicates the need for an official liaison between the police and the Guardian Angels. “We act as a deterrent to crime,” he said. “And we have the support of the community.”

Said Robinson: “There are those citizens who stand by the Angels and appreciate their companionship. And there are those who do not.

“Their function, as we see it, is to serve as our eyes and ears, not to be enforcers or vigilantes. This action smacks of vigilantism,” Robinson said.

Police spokesman David Cohen said that Cmdr. Larry Gore, head of the Police Department’s public affairs unit, and Cmdr. Jerry Sanders, who heads the police district where the incident occurred, will meet with Conwell Monday to discuss the relationship between the Angels and the police.

“If he (Conwell) has a problem,” Cohen said, “let’s see if we can solve it.”

Times wire services contributed to this report.