2 Suspects in Slaying of Black Pastor Are Attacked

A white Northridge college student, jailed in the slaying of a black Pacoima pastor that has drawn outraged protests from black groups, suffered a broken nose when he was kicked in the face by a black prisoner in what the student’s lawyer described Wednesday as a racial attack.

Sheriff’s officials said, however, that it was unclear that race was a motive.

The attack on Philip J. Dimenno, 19, occurred Tuesday in an inmate lockup area in the San Fernando Courthouse about 15 minutes after the conclusion of his preliminary hearing on a murder charge, officials said.

Another student--Dana L. Singer, 18, the alleged triggerman in the July 28 killing--was also kicked by the same prisoner and received bruises on his arm but was not hospitalized, said Sgt. Marguerite Waddy of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Dimenno’s attorney, Harold Greenberg, said Wednesday that he was certain the attack was racially motivated. While in jail, Dimenno has received several threatening letters with racial overtones, including one that said black inmates “would get him wherever he goes in the prison system,” Greenberg said.

But Waddy said officials have not established a motive for the assault. “That’s just an obvious speculation,” she said when asked if race was a factor. “We don’t know if that’s what actually happened.”

Greenberg obtained an order from a San Fernando Municipal Court judge Tuesday instructing the Sheriff’s Department to separate Dimenno and Singer from other inmates in jail. Waddy said the two will be kept away from other inmates when they return to the San Fernando Courthouse for future court appearances.

“They’ve got to make sure he’s protected,” Greenberg said of his client. “People have just taken this out of proportion.”

At their preliminary hearing, Singer and Dimenno had been ordered to stand trial in the killing of Carl White, 54, pastor of the Apostolic Temple Church in Pacoima. Singer allegedly shot White in the pastor’s Chatsworth house after the students asked the minister not to report to police a minor traffic collision the night before involving White’s car and Dimenno’s auto.

Dimenno told detectives after his July 31 arrest that he feared he would be arrested on an outstanding traffic warrant if the accident were reported.

Black ministers and community activists in the northeastern San Fernando Valley reacted with outrage when the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office initially recommended an unusually low bail of $20,000 each for Dimenno and Singer. The protesters accused the district attorney’s office of racism, saying that black suspects would not have been given such low bail in the killing of a white victim. The bail was revoked the next day and prosecutors agreed to recommend denial of bail in future murder cases unless prior approval is obtained from senior officials of the district attorney’s office.

On Tuesday, Dimenno and Singer were sitting side by side on a concrete bench waiting to return to the County Central Jail when inmate Thaddeus K. Bonner, 36, walked up and kicked them, sheriff’s and court officials said.

Dimenno stands 5 feet, 3 inches tall and weighs 95 pounds, and Singer is 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs 105 pounds, according to their driver’s licenses. Bonner stands 6 feet, 3 inches and weighs 175 pounds, according to court records.

Bonner said nothing before the attack, Waddy said, and there was no evidence that the students had said anything that might have provoked Bonner.

Bonner, who had earlier pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor drunk driving charge in another courtroom, was being returned to jail on unrelated auto theft and other charges, court officials said. He was charged Wednesday with assault and battery on the students, Deputy Bill Wehner said.

Sheriff’s deputies took Dimenno to San Fernando Community Hospital after the 12:30 p.m. assault, and he was returned to the Central Jail several hours later, Waddy said.