Shooting by Police Disputed : Law enforcement: The officer involved says suspect was going to stab another man on the Promenade. A witness claims he recklessly opened fire.

The witness was certain: What he had seen Saturday night on the crowded Third Street Promenade was nothing less than the attempted murder of a black man by a police officer.

“This cop, to me, killed this guy,” said Marty Ballardo, 32, a contractor from Los Angeles. “I had a perfect view. . . . It was sickening.”

In fact, the man who was shot three times, Leonard Anthony Sterling, is expected to live. Police and other witnesses, however, gave a much different account of the circumstances that led Officer Ron Franzen, a 20-year veteran of the Santa Monica Police Department, to fire three bullets into Sterling.

Police said Sterling was shot to save the life of someone he was about to stab with a knife. The two men Sterling allegedly tried to attack agree. “I saw him reach into his pocket,” Bryon Andrew Tucker said in an interview. “I saw a shiny object in his hand. Right when he swung they shot.”

But in the climate following the beating of Rodney G. King, the willingness of Ballardo and other witnesses to condemn the police response put Santa Monica police on the defensive this week.

“A number of people firmly believe police officers shoot people for no reason,” Santa Monica Police Department spokesman Bill Brucker said. “There is a certain amount of prejudice against police officers.”

Sterling, 27, of Oxnard was in serious condition Wednesday at UCLA Medical Center, and Brucker said he is expected to recover. Authorities said a test administered at the hospital soon after Sterling was admitted showed his blood alcohol level level to be more than .24, three times the legal threshold for what is considered drunk driving. Police said Sterling was on parole and had a criminal record that included felony convictions for robbery and possession of stolen credit cards.

A police report of the incident contains conflicting reports from bystanders and is missing a statement from the officer who shot Sterling. The incident is being investigated within the department. Among the questions not resolved in the report is whether the shooting was within police policy.

Two members of the City Council, Judy Abdo and Tony Vazquez, questioned this week whether an officer should have opened fire in such a crowded area. “I’m not convinced people should be drawing guns with crowds around,” Vazquez said.

Brucker said the hollow bullets used by the department “don’t go through people very well” so were not likely to hit bystanders. Also, he said, the shooting did not endanger crowds because it took place on Santa Monica Boulevard, just off the 300 block of the Promenade.

Tucker, a Ventura resident, said his visit to the Promenade on Saturday night was his first. He said he and two friends, Don Fields and Don W. Knight, met Sterling at a birthday barbecue in Canoga Park. They were part of a group that went to Trilussa, a Santa Monica restaurant and club on the Promenade formerly known as the Golden Monkey.

Don Knight, the man who told police he was nearly stabbed, said Sterling and Fields had a dispute over money in the club and that the argument continued on the Promenade. Knight said he, Fields and Tucker tried to get away from Sterling.

“Tempers flared,” Tucker said, but he did not say what prompted Sterling to draw a weapon.

After Sterling grabbed a knife from a table of the outdoor dining patio of the King George Restaurant, police were called. Officers said when they arrived on the scene several onlookers told them Sterling had a knife.

Police arrived just as Fields pushed Sterling away from him, Tucker said. Then, he said, Sterling reached for the knife and swung it at Knight.

According to the police report, Franzen fired three shots, all of which hit Sterling.

Knight and Fields quickly left the scene as a swarm of police officers and Promenade visitors gathered.

One officer said he had to control onlookers, many of whom were angry over what they thought was an unjustified shooting.

Ballardo said no bystanders were in danger when police shot Sterling. But the witness also said he believes the officer was shooting to kill, although the wounds--and statements by other witnesses--indicate Franzen was shooting low to wound.

There is also a dispute over whether police ordered Sterling to halt before opening fire. “All I know is when someone swings something so fast, you kind of have to figure the worst,” Tucker said. “But maybe the police could have said, ‘Hold it.’ ”