Rights Groups Want Du’s Bail Revoked
Several African-American civil rights groups, supported by the family of a teen-ager who was fatally shot in a dispute over a bottle of orange juice, began a petition drive Saturday to revoke the bail of the Korean-born liquor store owner who is charged in the case.
The grandmother of 15-year-old Latasha Harlins said members of the Brotherhood Crusade, Mothers in Actions and the Malcolm X Grassroots group met in a South Los Angeles park to seek signatures on a petition calling for the $250,000 bail of Soon Ja Du, 49, to be revoked.
Many in the neighborhood near the Empire Liquor Market Deli, where the girl was killed, are fearful that Du, who was released from jail several days ago, may flee the country, said Ruth Harlins, the slain girl’s grandmother.
Du was charged with shooting the teen-ager on March 16. She told investigators she shot the girl because she believed the girl was trying to steal a bottle of orange juice. But the district attorney’s office filed a murder charge against Du, saying that a security camera videotape clearly showed Harlins had money in her hand when she approached the store counter with the juice.
The shooting led to a campaign by black activists to boycott area merchants, including Koreans, who show a lack of respect for their black customers.
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