Alcohol, PCP Found in Jimenez’s Blood : Law enforcement: The gang member was highly intoxicated when he was slain by a deputy at Ramona Gardens, an autopsy report shows.

The 19-year-old gang member slain by a sheriff’s deputy at the Ramona Gardens housing project in East Los Angeles was under the influence of high quantities of alcohol and PCP at the time of his death, according to a coroner’s report released Monday.

An autopsy on the body of Arturo Jimenez, who was fatally shot Aug. 3, showed he had a blood-alcohol level of 0.20%--more than twice the legal limit of 0.08% for operating a vehicle--Los Angeles County coroner’s spokesman Bob Dambacher said.

Tests also revealed that Jimenez’s blood had recently absorbed a large dose of phencyclidine, commonly known as PCP or angel dust, Dambacher said. In addition, traces of cocaine and marijuana were discovered, indicating that Jimenez had probably used the drugs within several days of his death, according to the report.

Although coroner’s officials declined to speculate on the effect that the alcohol and PCP might have had on Jimenez, the state’s chief toxicologist said the autopsy results pointed to an extremely high state of intoxication.

Bill Phillips, head of the state Department of Justice’s toxicology lab in Sacramento, said someone of Jimenez’s size--5 feet, 7 inches and 250 pounds--probably would have had to drink 10 to 15 beers to reach a 0.20% blood-alcohol level.

The teen-ager’s PCP level--0.14 micrograms per milliliter--would also be considered a significant dose, Phillips said. A 1985 study by the state of 468 drivers arrested for being under the influence of PCP showed that their blood levels ranged from 0.004 to 0.147 micrograms, he said.

“We’re talking serious intoxication,” Phillips said. “From my perspective, that would be an individual I would not want on the street.”

Jimenez was shot by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Mann, a six-year veteran, after Jimenez allegedly took a flashlight from Mann’s partner and knocked the partner unconscious. Residents of the 497-unit apartment complex, dozens of whom had been with Jimenez celebrating a neighbor’s birthday that night, contend that he never attacked the officer and was shot without provocation.

Samuel R. Paz, the lawyer representing the Jimenez family, said Monday that the autopsy results were no surprise, considering that Jimenez had been attending a party. Paz, who said he will file a wrongful death claim against the county today, also questioned whether someone as intoxicated as Jimenez would have posed a physical threat to the deputies.

“Somebody that drunk doesn’t sound like they’re going to be strong enough to take a flashlight away from a fully equipped officer,” Paz said. “It just shows this was a random shooting that was carefully executed by two officers out looking for a fight.”

The Sheriff’s Department on Monday issued a statement saying only that the autopsy results were “just one element in a very complex investigation.”

“Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigators and homicide detectives are continuing to gather information and evidence relevant to the incident for presentation and disposition by the district attorney’s office,” Deputy George Ducoulombier said.

The Los Angeles City Council today is expected to request that county officials conduct an investigation into the Sheriff’s Department role in the shooting and that the Police Department prepare a separate report on a possible breakdown in communications among law enforcement agencies patrolling the 32-acre housing project the night of the incident.

Court records show that Jimenez had been involved with drugs in the past. In January, he pleaded guilty to felony charges of PCP possession. Last year, he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor drug charges, records show.

Alfred Coodley, the psychiatric consultant to the criminal division of the Los Angeles County Superior Court system, said the combination of PCP and alcohol in Jimenez could have sparked a “definitively abnormal reaction.”