Dozens Sign Up for Patrols in Wake of Hillcrest Death

Matt McKinnon did not hesitate to scribble his name on a yellow legal pad this week, locking him into a weekly two-hour civilian patrol along the darkened streets of North Park and Hillcrest.

“I’ll take my turn,” said McKinnon, 34, a local labor leader who lives in Normal Heights. “When you’re talking about senseless crime like this, the more people the better.”

Galvanized by the death of John Robert Wear, 17, a Del Cerro high school student who was beaten and stabbed Friday night in Hillcrest by two young men described as skinheads, a vocal group of 200 in North Park has vowed to fight back.

In all, 44 people volunteered to patrol University Avenue from Goldfinch Street to Interstate 805, where dozens have been attacked in a frightening spree of street robberies since June. By Tuesday, 15 more had telephoned San Diego City Councilman John Hartley’s office to inquire about joining the patrol.

For the first time, San Diego police, who have consistently refused to sanction such neighborhood patrols because of the liability that might accompany any mishaps, are now sponsoring training classes for those who volunteer in North Park and Hillcrest.

“This is a roving community alert or neighborhood watch and is getting the same amount of support,” said Norm Stamper, executive assistant police chief.

“In effect, this is a test for the city,” he said. “If it leads to vigilantism or generates no useful or meaningful information, it will be considered a failure. But, if it leads to people taking back their streets, it will be a success.”

The patrols are the brainchild of Hartley, who has been espousing the plan for years as a method of community protection. Pacific Bell has donated six cellular phones, and volunteers will ride in cars, calling in crimes or suspicious sightings.

The calls will be forwarded to a mobile police van on University Avenue, which was set up Monday night to investigate a series of 30 to 35 assaults and street robberies since June. Police had earlier said the string had reached more than 50 and described all the assailants as black and the victims as white.

But, on Monday, Police Chief Bob Burgreen lowered the figure, saying it had erroneously included other area crimes not part of the series. Then on Tuesday, Capt. Winston Yetta, who heads the department’s western division, said some of the cases may involve white attackers. He said all of the cases were being reviewed to determine the exact nature of the crimes.

Details about the community patrols were still being worked out Tuesday night as police began their first of three training sessions. Although Hartley had suggested starting the patrols after Christmas, the crowd at a North Park meeting Monday night insisted on beginning this week. Police have already completed cursory background checks on the volunteers.

“The definite mood of the people is that they want to start immediately,” said Frank Buttino, a former FBI agent who lost his job after admitting he was gay. “Everyone wants to get involved. Young and old. Men and women. Gay and straight.”

Since all of the attacks have occurred between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m., the volunteers will be monitoring the streets at that time, spelling their neighbors every few hours. They are being trained not to leave their cars, not to get involved in any confrontation and not to make citizen’s arrests.

Police are split over whether the citizen patrols will become a help or a hindrance.

“We may have an undercover officer in a vehicle looking swarthy and suddenly surrounded by citizens with clubs,” said Lt. Tom Giaquinto, who is in charge of the task force investigating the assault series. “But, on the other hand, some of these groups have operated well as the eyes and ears of the department. Provided they are trained properly, it can’t hurt.”

Giaquinto has been given 24 patrol officers and a number of detectives to flood University Avenue and surrounding areas for as long as it takes to catch suspects in the rash of crimes. Police have been hampered because many victims refuse to deal with police after making an initial report, even to look at pictures of possible suspects.

Detectives suspect that many of those who won’t give their names are fearful that people will find out they are gay.

Of those who have agreed to look at photos, nobody has made a positive identification. Most have been attacked from behind late at night with clubs, pipes, bats or fists, police say.

Police are still haunted by their lack of success in August, when 15 officers scoured Hillcrest and North Park for weeks without an arrest. More frustrating still, police had special details in the area Friday night when Wear was stabbed to death.

Wear, a senior at Twain Junior-Senior High School, was attacked at 10:15 p.m. on the corner of Essex and Vermont streets by a pair of young men as he and two friends were walking from their car to Soho, a coffee house a block away on University Avenue.

The victims described the attackers as skinheads because of their closed-cropped hair and combat boots, police said.

Accompanying Wear at the time of the attack were Bryan Baird, an 18-year-old senior at Patrick Henry High School, and a third student whom police have not identified.

As the three walked past the attackers, “one of the other friends said ‘Hello, how are you?’ and the two guys immediately attacked them, yelling anti-homosexual epithets,” homicide Lt. Paul Ybarrondo said.

The young man who said hello was hit in the face by one of the attackers. The other punched, kicked and stabbed Wear, Ybarrondo said.

Wear was taken to Mercy Hospital, where he died Saturday night of stab wounds to the chest.

Doctors gave Wear 250 units of blood. Baird, who was cut in the face, was treated and released from Kaiser Hospital. The third youth was not seriously hurt.

Wear’s killer was described as an 18- to 20-year-old white male, about 5-foot-9, 165 pounds, dressed in a long-sleeved red flannel shirt, blue jeans and Army boots. Ybarrondo said Tuesday that police had no new leads in the case.

Interviewed briefly at his San Carlos home Tuesday, John Wear Sr., the dead teen-ager’s father, said he was gratified by the community’s reaction.

“The community patrols and police activity are entirely appropriate. I think they ought to clean the place out,” Wear said. “I hope they don’t forget about it a week from now. Sounds like they are trying to do something together instead of pointing fingers at each other.”

The visitation for Wear was held Tuesday night at Greenwood Memorial Park and Mortuary, at Interstate 805 and Imperial Avenue. Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Therese Church, 6046 Camino Rico, in San Carlos.

A candlelight march in memory of Wear and other assault victims has been scheduled for 7 p.m. Sunday and will start at 1045 University Ave.

Although it may have taken Wear’s death to rally a portion of San Diego, police community relations specialist Matt Weathersby said he hopes the anger and determination will last.

“When this series is over and the murder is solved for this young man, what happens next?” Weathersby asked. “I’m glad there is this enthusiasm. But I’m frustrated that it took so long to develop.”