Family, Friends Mourn Loss of Truck Driver Killed by Police

In his eulogy in front of an emotional gathering at Little Zion Church in Compton, Pastor W. Jerome Fisher struggled to find some meaning in what he called the “senseless” police shooting of tow truck driver John L. Daniels.

The pastor said Daniels had some run-ins with the law, but that was no reason for him to die at the hands of the police.

“John had his ups and downs,” he said. “I’m not concerned about his record; his record does not give them the right to kill. . . . The police should not be judge and jury. They don’t sentence people and carry out the conviction.”

Daniels was shot and killed on July 1 after he allegedly refused a police officer’s order to stop his truck and began to pull away from a gas station at Florence Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard.

Police say Johnson had more than a few scrapes with authorities, but many witnesses say that his death could have been avoided.

On Thursday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation launched a preliminary investigation to determine if Daniels’ civil rights were violated when he was shot to death by police.

At the time of the shooting, Daniels, who had a long list of felony charges and was considered a career criminal, maintained that officers had been harassing him since his father, John L. Daniels Sr., was fatally shot by police in 1985.

At the funeral, Daniels’ family and friends remembered the 36-year-old tow-truck driver as fun-loving and friendly. They said he had a way with animals and trained police dogs before he bought his tow truck company.

He is survived by his wife, Michelle, and his two children, Kendall, 18, and Janorey, 14, of Inglewood.

“He was unselfish and courteous,” said Gail Tolliver, a family friend. “He never hesitated to stop and assist anyone needing emergency road service.”

Fisher told the congregation that Daniels’ shooting was an example of the difficulty blacks face in receiving justice in America.

“It is a sad, painful hour that goes farther than bereavement,” Fisher said. “This system has never wanted us to be men. I can remember deep in the South it would hurt me to have to see my 6-foot, 2-inch father say ‘yes sir’ to a 14-year-old white boy. The system is out to destroy the best we have.”

Daniels was black. The two motorcycle officers involved in the shooting, Douglas Iversen, 42, a 15-year-veteran, and Patrick Bradshaw, 28, are white. Both officers have a history of misconduct, according to police records. Iversen has been assigned to non-field duties while the department investigates the shooting.

Outside the church, Steve A. Lerman, the attorney who represents the family and who also represents motorist Rodney G. King, said he plans to pursue the case in the courts.

“To die under these circumstances is a horror,” he said. “These people deserve justice and I’m going to try to get it for them.”

The funeral was attended by scores of tow truck drivers who demonstrated outside Los Angeles police headquarters following the funeral, blocking traffic for 20 minutes.

Shelly Shellmire, a spokesman for the African-American Towing Assn., said the shooting was part of a pattern of harassment by police.

“Again, we, the African-American people, are shown that black life does not count,” he said. “We did not look at John Daniels as the ‘poor truck driver’ but as a human being.”

Shellmire said representatives from the 2-year-old organization will meet with members of the Police Commission on Wednesday to discuss grievances, including Daniels’ shooting.