Officers, Kin of Slain Teen in Tense Shoving Incident

Los Angeles police officers and relatives of a teen-ager who had been shot to death became embroiled in a shoving match that nearly erupted into more serious violence Wednesday afternoon when officers stopped the family from crossing a barrier to see the dead youth.

The 17-year-old victim, a suspected gang member whose name was not released, was shot to death as he sat in a car at 109th and Figueroa streets, Sgt. Lon Salzman said. Investigators said the shooting appeared to be gang related.

“The family of the deceased came in and wanted to see the body; wanted to touch him,” Salzman said, adding that the officers “can’t allow people to come into the crime scene area” because they might disturb evidence, or interfere with the investigation.

“Officers had to physically stop them from going through,” he said. “We have distraught relatives. They want to see the body. We can’t do that.”

Friends and angry relatives of the victim began shouting at the officers, investigators said. A minor scuffle broke out, the crowd increased to more than 200, more than 40 officers responded and several people were arrested, police said.

“There was a resistance here, an officer was battered,” Police Lt. Mark Ulis told KCAL-TV. “We had interfering by some people here that were taken into custody and transported to Southeast station” for questioning.

Late Wednesday, police said five people were booked--three for interfering with a police officer and two for battery on a police officer. Five officers required medical treatment for minor injuries.

Resident Andre Floyd saw the situation differently. He told KCAL that “police began to grab and throw the individuals down because they could not get any information.

“And they couldn’t understand that these people were upset because a family member had just been killed,” he added. “They didn’t act hostile to the police. No way. They just told the police they didn’t have nothing to say to them.”

Mike Davis, an aide to Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), said late Wednesday “we received complaints that Los Angeles police were abusing citizens at the scene of a crime.” Davis said he would brief the congresswoman on the incident today.

The disturbance happened amid high tension in the wake of Tuesday’s release of a civilian commission’s report that was highly critical of the Police Department and its dealings with the public.