LOCAL : ‘Onion Field’ Killer Arrested in Van Nuys on Knife Charge

Paroled “Onion Field” police killer Jimmy Lee Smith was arrested in Van Nuys after he allegedly threatened a man with an eight-inch kitchen knife, police said today.

Smith, 59, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, two weeks after a man complained that Smith had threatened him, LAPD Lt. John Bradbury said. He is being held without bail because the arrest violates his parole.

It was the latest in a series of arrests for Smith since he was paroled in February, 1982, after serving 19 years in prison for his role in the March, 1963, slaying of Los Angeles Police Officer Ian Campbell. Campbell and his partner, Officer Karl Hettinger, were abducted in Hollywood by Smith and Gregory Powell and were driven to an onion field south of Bakersfield. Powell killed Campbell and shot at Hettinger, who escaped in the darkness.

The crime was recounted in Joseph Wambaugh’s best-selling 1973 novel “The Onion Field.”

The latest arrest evolved from an argument Smith had with his female roommate, police said. The woman had ordered Smith to move out of their home in early April. On April 18 the woman spotted Smith near her car, which had recently been vandalized. When a male friend of the woman intervened, Smith allegedly pulled out a knife, threatened the man and then fled.

A police report was taken, and Powell was arrested Tuesday when patrol officers spotted him walking on Zombar Avenue near Saticoy Street.