‘Kill Him, Kill Him; He’s Got My Gun’ : Court hearing: A sheriff’s deputy testifies that he screamed the exhortation to his partner as he wrestled with a man for control of the service revolver.

A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy testified Wednesday that he screamed to his partner to kill a member of the Nation of Islam as he and the Muslim wrestled on the ground for control of his service revolver.

“Kill him, kill him. He’s got my gun,” Deputy William Tackaberry said he exhorted David Dolson, a trainee deputy under his charge, just before Dolson fired a shot into the head of 27-year-old Oliver Beasley, killing him.

Beasley had been among a group of men who emerged from a nearby apartment complex and attacked the deputies after they stopped another Muslim, David Charles Hartley, for traffic offenses, Tackaberry testified. The killing last January heightened tensions between blacks and law enforcement officials in metropolitan Los Angeles.

Tackaberry testified in the second and final day of a preliminary hearing for Hartley, an 18-year-old Culver City High School senior and Nation of Islam member who was shot and wounded during the confrontation.

At the hearing’s conclusion, Inglewood Municipal Judge Wardell G. Moss ordered Hartley to stand trial on felony charges of resisting an officer, removing an officer’s gun and assaulting an officer.

Dolson, Tackaberry’s partner, had testified on Tuesday that he had shot Hartley after the man helped beat and kick him, and take away one of his two guns. Hartley is the only person who has been charged in the confrontation.

Nation of Islam officials have called Beasley’s killing an “execution” that occurred as he lay on the ground pleading for his life.

Hartley’s attorney, Omar Bakari, said after the preliminary hearing ended Wednesday that Moss’ ruling had been expected. While Bakari questioned three deputies, Hartley was not called to testify by the defense.

Outside court, the lawyer accused the two deputies involved of engaging in a cover-up to conceal their own behavior. Hartley was charged in the incident, Bakari contended, in an attempt to shield the county from a possible lawsuit.

“They shot him,” Bakari said, “so they have to justify that.”

The incident occurred Jan. 23 outside an apartment complex on West 106th Street in the Athens District of Los Angeles County.

Tackaberry testified that Hartley initially was stopped for driving 10 m.p.h. over the speed limit and following too closely behind the deputies’ car. Hartley, he said, stopped his car in a driveway outside the apartment complex, walked back to the patrol car and put his hands on the hood.

According to Tackaberry’s testimony, the incident then unfolded as follows:

Several men emerged from the apartment building and asked what was the problem. Hartley then refused to comply with orders to keep his hands on the hood. A scuffle ensued.

Someone approached Dolson from behind and put him in a chokehold. Tackaberry broke the person’s grip by striking him in the head with his gun butt.

He then was attacked by four or five men, including Beasley. Tackaberry’s finger was on his gun trigger, and Beasley placed his finger atop that of the deputy.

The gun went off, apparently leading Dolson to believe that Tackaberry had been shot.

Dolson ran over to the two men. Tackaberry then screamed for Dolson, who had worked on the streets for less than three months, to fire because Beasley was grabbing his gun.

Dolson fired one shot into Beasley’s head, killing him.

Tackaberry said he did not know Hartley had been shot. Dolson testified Tuesday that he had shot Hartley after he heard Beasley’s gun go off and presumed that his partner had been shot and that his own life was in peril.