Muslims’ Shooting Described

A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy trainee took the witness stand Tuesday and described for the first time the frantic events he said led to the shooting death Jan. 23 of a Nation of Islam member and the wounding of another after a routine traffic stop.

The trainee, David Dolson, testified that he opened fire, wounding one Muslim, because he believed--mistakenly--that his partner had been shot. Then, realizing that his partner was instead fighting for his gun with another man, Dolson testified, he shot that man.

Dolson said his partner, Deputy William Tackaberry, was “in a struggle for the possession of his weapon. . . . I shot the person he was struggling with.”

He also testified that earlier during the incident he had been put in a chokehold, beaten and kicked, and had one gun taken from him.

Dolson was the first witness at a preliminary hearing in Inglewood Municipal Court for Nation of Islam member David Charles Hartley, 18, who has been charged with removing a weapon from a peace officer, and resisting and assaulting an officer--all felonies--in the incident in the Athens District of Los Angeles County.

Oliver Beasley, 27, was killed by a bullet fired at point-blank range into his head, coroner’s officials have reported. Hartley was wounded in the upper back by Dolson’s shots.

Later, in an interview, Hartley’s lawyer disputed key elements of Dolson’s testimony.

Dolson testified that he and Tackaberry had stopped Hartley for speeding. He said the confrontation began when Hartley refused to keep his hands on the hood of a patrol car.

It quickly escalated into a series of struggles, Dolson said, after as many as 16 men emerged from a nearby apartment complex, used as a meeting place by Nation of Islam members.

Dolson testified that Hartley began fighting with Tackaberry. When Dolson tried to go to his partner’s aid, he said, someone put him in a chokehold.

Dolson said he got out of the chokehold with Tackaberry’s help, then three or four men--including Hartley--knocked him into the street, kicked him and beat him.

Dolson testified that he lost possession of his gun twice. He said that as the men moved away, taking his weapon, he averted his eyes because, “I didn’t want to see myself getting shot with my own gun.”

As he pulled a backup gun from his rear pants pocket, he heard a gunshot, saw his partner on his knees, and heard screaming.

He fired four rounds, wounding Hartley.

At that point, Dolson said, he noticed that Beasley and Tackaberry were both on their knees struggling over Tackaberry’s weapon. He said he went over to the two and--fearing that either he or Tackaberry would be harmed--shot Beasley once.

Hartley’s lawyer, Omar Bakari, took exception to part of Dolson’s account.

“I don’t think Mr. Hartley tried to take this guy’s gun,” Bakari said during a break in the hearing. “I don’t think there was a life-and-death struggle with Oliver Beasley.”