Charges Against Officer Draw Fire : Courts: Supporters assail counts while detractors claim Compton policeman should be accused of murder, not voluntary manslaughter, in the shooting deaths of two Samoan brothers.

The filing of manslaughter charges against a Compton policeman who shot two Samoan brothers a total of 19 times brought sharp criticism on Thursday from the officer’s supporters and detractors, though for conflicting reasons.

Samoan community leaders expressed outrage that Officer Alfred F. Skiles Jr. was charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter--not murder--for killing Pouvi Tualaulelei, 34, and his brother, Itali, 22, outside their Compton home.

Tua-au Pele Faletogo, a local tribal chief, called the manslaughter charges ridiculous. “I really believe malice is present when you indiscriminately pump (19) bullets into someone,” said Faletogo. “The officer should have been charged with first-degree murder.”

Skiles’ friends and supporters, however, contended that he has been unjustly snared in the political uproar over police brutality, triggered by the beating of Rodney G. King by Los Angeles police officers.

Rev. Gary Daniels, an Episcopal minister and former Compton police photographer, called the officer a “sacrificial lamb,” adding: “What’s happened to Officer Skiles is a tragedy. This is a political situation and it really hurts.”

A lawyer representing Skiles at a court hearing Thursday further alleged that the district attorney’s office was pressured by the Embassy of Western Samoa in Washington to file some kind of charges. The attorney, Gerald Lennon, noted that a lawyer for the Tualaulelei family was quoted in The Times on Thursday as saying the embassy had been “keeping pressure” on investigators to make sure the case was not dropped.

“There’s been pressure put on and it’s filtered down to the Los Angeles district attorney,” Lennon said. “This (case) was put together with some political paste.”

An embassy spokesman denied that pressure was exerted, saying officials there acted only as a liaison between the brothers’ family and federal investigators, who are also examining the incident. The spokesman said embassy contact with the district attorney’s office has been limited to periodic updates on the case.

Skiles’ arraignment, scheduled for Thursday, was postponed until Oct. 28 to give the 12-year Compton police veteran time to assemble a defense team. He was released on $30,000 bail.

The brothers--one a father and warehouse worker, the other a scholarship student and El Camino College football player--were killed Feb. 12 by Skiles. The officer, who was responding to a domestic violence call, has maintained that he shot the brothers as they tried to wrest away his 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol.

Prosecutors have contended that there is no evidence to support Skiles’ self-defense claim. Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Healey has said there are indications Skiles fired three bullets into one of the men’s buttocks and three into the other’s back after the brothers had fallen to the ground.

A third brother has told investigators that the two were shot while complying with the officer’s order to kneel.

Present during Skiles’ court appearance were several colleagues, including the acting Compton police chief and the president of the Compton police union.

Asked outside the courtroom if the fact that Skiles was on patrol alone might have contributed to the shooting, union chief Michael Markey said: “Nobody is happy with that. It is not standard procedure.”

Friends and neighbors characterized Skiles as a compassionate and easygoing family man who tried to reconcile troubles with words, not force.

Daniels said Skiles had worked for several years as a community relations officer assigned to help protect Compton’s business owners.

“They put him in that job because he could relate so well to people,” Daniels said. “He always had a concern for those in need. . . . If you want to know some hard-nosed cops, I could show you some. But he wasn’t one. He was not the type to go out with his guns blazing.”

Neighbors in the quiet, middle-class Cerritos neighborhood where Skiles has lived since 1976 said it was years before they even knew he was a police officer. A basketball hoop is mounted in the driveway of his neatly kept home and a sticker on his front door reads, “Jesus Christ is Lord.”

“He never seemed like a policeman,” said Lucia Martins, who has lived across the street for 19 years. “He and his wife are very kind, well-mannered and nice--never any bravura or toughness. Just very good people.”

Another longtime neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said Skiles could often be seen in his front yard, tossing a baseball around with his four children, or helping his elderly mother, who occasionally stays with the family.

“There’s a lot of togetherness in that house,” said the neighbor. “I let it be known to his mom that we’re praying for him; we’re behind him.”