City Officials, Police Brace for Possible New Violence : 2Riots: Curfews are imposed to prevent more arson and looting. Fire department and hospital staffs are bolstered in the event of renewed unrest.

By GEORGE HATCH

May 1, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

South Bay officials imposed dusk-to-dawn curfews, closed schools and beefed up police, fire and hospital service Thursday after violence sparked by not-guilty verdicts in the Rodney G. King case spread from South Los Angeles to local cities.

The curfews were imposed to prevent a repeat of the arson and looting that flared Wednesday after the not-guilty verdicts for four white Los Angeles police officers in the beating of King, a black motorist.

In Inglewood, where fires destroyed at least three businesses and an alleged armed robber was shot and killed by police, the city requested help from the National Guard and schools were closed until Monday. In Carson, where at least five businesses were burned, sheriff’s deputies patrolled the city in full riot gear and the Carson mall and other businesses closed early.

Looting and disturbances were reported in Hawthorne Thursday afternoon and even in Torrance, which had reported far fewer problems, and authorities put more police and emergency personnel on duty in case they were needed to cover the city or to assist neighboring jurisdictions.

Such preparations, including extra staffing at several South Bay hospitals, resembled the large-scale disaster response reserved for earthquakes and other natural calamities.

“It’s been busy as hell,” said Battalion Chief Leonard Jensen of the Inglewood Fire Department. “It’s simple as that.”

In Inglewood, City Manager Paul Eckles on Thursday declared a curfew, banned the sale of gasoline in containers and asked the National Guard to send troops to the city.

All 200 of the city’s police officers were on duty Thursday, and the Guard troops were expected to begin arriving Thursday night. School officials canceled classes today as similar closures were ordered for the entire Los Angeles Unified School District and for El Camino College.

The moves came after a night of rioting that spilled across Inglewood’s eastern border with South-Central Los Angeles. Inglewood police said they shot and killed an armed robbery suspect late Wednesday who had aimed a gun at officers. They said they also wounded four looters and arrested 40 people in the disturbances.

Fires destroyed a jewelry shop, a restaurant and liquor store, all on Inglewood’s east side. Witnesses said looting continued during the day on Thursday. Some business owners pleaded with patrons not to start looting.

“A friend of mine owns a carwash with a mini-mart, and we were telling all the customers, ‘Hey, this is black-owned, don’t get violent,’ ” said Terry Coleman of Inglewood.

In some cases, he added, such pleas might not come to much: “There are unsupervised teen-agers out there roaming the streets, doing anything they want to do. It’s like a forest fire.”

As in Inglewood, Hawthorne authorities requested National Guard help on Thursday. Police said that after the King verdicts were announced Wednesday afternoon, city streets were relatively quiet until about 9:30 p.m., when police received reports that looters were attempting to force their way into a Hawthorne Boulevard gun store.

Police prevented the break-in. But before the night was over, a woman had been pulled out of her car and beaten, a mini-market had been robbed, a car stereo store had been looted and the rear of a tire store had been set on fire.

On Thursday afternoon, Hawthorne police made 15 arrests after 40 youths allegedly broke into the Hawthorne Plaza shortly after the mall closed about 1 p.m. The youths allegedly broke windows and looted several stores, but mall officials said the merchandise was recovered.

“The only injuries I’m aware of is one individual who attempted to break one of our glass doors with his hand,” said William H. Demarest, Hawthorne Plaza general manager.

Three Northrop Corporation employees were wounded by random gunfire, one seriously, near the plant on Crenshaw Boulevard. Hawthorne Police Lt. Arvid Krueger said the gunfire was random and from a passing car and was related to the rioting, not to gang activity. All three of the wounded were taken to area hospitals, Krueger said.

In Redondo Beach, officials decided to close the pier there. Shop and restaurant owners had already begun closing down, fearing disturbances tonight, police said.

Some South Bay officials said they didn’t expect the violence to penetrate local cities.

“I guess I’m surprised that it reached into Hawthorne,” said Hawthorne city spokesman Tom Quintana. “I thought the city of Los Angeles would be the object of people’s dissension. Whatever is happening, I don’t know where it’s coming from.”

In Carson, the looting and arson occurred mainly in the northern portion of the city, which abuts Compton. Outside one business partially damaged by fire, the Golden Garden Restaurant, several youths standing in the parking lot Thursday afternoon said they were glad the building had been burned.

One motioned to other stores in the shopping center where the restaurant is located and said: “They’re all black owned. This one isn’t and it’s the only that got burned. The only thing I regret was that it wasn’t in the white neighborhoods.”

Others at the scene, however, didn’t share that sentiment. One woman hugged the restaurant owner, who declined to give her name. And Randolph Freeman, 47, a frequent patron of the restaurant, helped the owner carry out property that was not damaged by the blaze.

“I am just so sorry,” said Freeman, who was covered with soot. “I can’t do anything but contribute my strength and my energy to help them. It’s all so senseless.”

The Harbor area, while relatively free of the violence marring other parts of Los Angeles, was not without its share of looting, fires and beatings.

Harbor Division Detective Julie Nelson reported that an auto garage in East Wilmington was burglarized and then set ablaze about 2:10 a.m. Thursday. That fire followed several smaller incidents in which looters tossed Molotov cocktails into streets and the parking lot of an automobile dealership at Pacific Coast Highway and Normandie Avenue.

At Dana Strand Village, there was an unconfirmed report of two men being beaten around 7 a.m. Thursday by a mob of gang members. While police and fire officials could not immediately confirm that report, they did say the housing project had several times been the site of unruly crowds that were dispersed only after a show of force by police.

Of the South Bay hospitals, the busiest was Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood. After violence broke out in South Los Angeles following the announcement of the verdicts in the King case, the injured flocked to the 365-bed hospital on foot and in cars, pickup trucks and ambulances.

At any time throughout the night, from 25 to 30 people were being treated in the hospital’s 15-bed emergency department, with some patients waiting in the hallway. Injuries included gunshot wounds, stab wounds, broken bones, glass cuts and smoke inhalation.

Some were wounded by bottles smashed on their wrists and arms, said Kim Colonnelli, the hospital’s emergency services director. On Thursday, the hospital called in extra staff in case of more violence.

Said Colonnelli: “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Staff writers Michele Fuetsch, Kenneth J. Garcia, Kim Kowsky, Greg Krikorian, Anthony Millican and Deborah Schoch contributed to this report.

Riot Closures The following is a partial list of public schools and offices closed in the South Bay today:

* All Los Angeles Unified School District schools

* All Inglewood Unified School District schools

* All Torrance schools

* El Camino College

* Department of Motor Vehicles field offices in Hawthorne, Inglewood, Compton and downtown Los Angeles

Cities under dawn to dusk curfews include:

* Carson

* Gardena

* Hawthorne