Riot Death Toll Lowered to 51 After Coroner’s Review : Violence: Officials say some counted as victims would have died whether the unrest had occurred or not.

The official death toll in the Los Angeles riots fell to 51 from 60 Tuesday after the county coroner’s office reviewed case files and determined that some of those counted as victims probably would have died whether there had been civil unrest or not.

A man who set his house on fire while smoking in bed, a transient killed in a dispute over aluminum cans and a woman shot to death by her boyfriend were among those included in the coroner’s initial count, compiled during the chaos that swept the city.

“Information was sketchy early on,” said coroner’s spokesman Bob Dambacher. “We didn’t know what happened, how it happened or who it happened to. As the bodies came in, we were asking--very quickly--’Was this death the result of the riot or not?’ ”

Despite the scaling back of the death toll, the violence that broke out April 29 after the not guilty verdicts in the Rodney G. King beating case remains the deadliest civil disturbance in the United States this century. The Detroit riots of 1967 resulted in 43 deaths; 34 people were killed in the 1965 Watts riots.

The revision, reported Tuesday to the county Board of Supervisors, followed a review by a team of coroner’s investigators of police and autopsy reports in the 60 fatalities. They found 14 cases that needed follow-up and contacted detectives for more information. Eventually, one person who died a few weeks after the riots was added to the list and 10 people were removed.

The previously uncounted fatality was Wilson Alvarez, 40, who authorities said was assaulted while throwing rocks at looters May 1. Alvarez died of head injuries at County-USC Medical Center May 23.

Among the cases judged unconnected to the riots were several gang-related shootings, a drug deal gone awry and the death by heart attack of an unidentified man arrested for a curfew violation. Citing evidence of a drug and alcohol overdose and liver damage, the coroner’s report says that in this case, “death would have occurred whether or not the riot had taken place or a curfew (had been) imposed.”

A separate review of the riot fatalities conducted by The Times in June found that 45 of the 60 deaths were riot-related; detectives investigating the cases said they could not find a riot connection in the other 15 deaths. The discrepancies are a matter of interpretation--and a sign of how difficult it is to categorize deaths in a city where violence is such an entrenched part of life.

For instance, the coroner’s office labeled riot-related the deaths of three people killed in a car accident April 29 after they stole a wallet from a pedestrian on the outskirts of Beverly Hills. “This is considered a riot case because of the riot-related robbery,” the coroner’s report says.

But Beverly Hills police called the deaths of Darnell Mallory, 18; Jerrel Channel, 26, and Juanita Pettaway, 38, the result of a common street robbery gone wrong.

“Our position is that it is not riot related,” Lt. Frank R. Salcido, spokesman for the Beverly Hills Police Department, said Tuesday. “We don’t have any evidence that it was related to the riots. It looked like a pure street robbery.”

Other cases were included in the death count by what even the coroner’s office acknowledged were the thinnest of threads.

Coroner’s officials say it is impossible to know for sure whether 38-year-old Jimmie Harris’ car accident at Avalon Boulevard and Slauson Avenue on the first night of the rioting was connected to the chaos. But the case was included on the list because paramedics, detained by rioting, arrived at the scene late.

The death of Vivian Austin, 89, also is on the official list. She suffered a fatal heart attack at her Los Angeles home May 3. “This is considered a riot case because the stress from the riot was well documented and is a contributing factor in death from arteriosclerotic disease,” the coroner’s report says.

Aaron Ratinoff died in a scuffle with a supermarket produce manager. The employee apparently confronted Ratinoff, who had dropped some corn husks on the floor. Officials termed the case riot-related not because the dispute stemmed from the unrest, but because Ratinoff, 68, never would have ended up at Bob’s Market in West Los Angeles had the store where he normally shopped stayed open during the rioting.

Dambacher acknowledged that interpretation played a role in determining the death toll.

“The rest of the county doesn’t stop because you have a riot,” he said. “How can you say one drive-by is riot-related and another isn’t? This all can get very theoretical. All we’re saying is that we feel these 51 are pretty well connected to the riots.”

Scaling Back the Death Toll

The Los Angeles County coroner’s office on Tuesday reduced its tally of deaths related to the riots to 51 from 60, based on an examination of police and pathologist reports.

An earlier Times analysis had counted 45 riot-related deaths; the discrepancy reflects different judgments on whether killings--including a number of drive-by shootings--would have occurred whether there was rioting or not.

These are deaths that the coroner’s office now says were not riot-related:

George Alvarez, 42: Died on May 1, the third day of rioting, on North Main Street in Los Angeles. He apparently was a transient who was assaulted by other transients.

Harry Doller, 56: Was found dead after a house fire May 1. The coroner’s office concluded that he died of a drug and alcohol overdose and that his cigarette may have started the fire.

Kevin Edwards, 35: On April 30, he was shot by a homeowner after approaching a Compton house and claiming, “A dog told me to come to your house.”

Andres Garcia, 32: Died April 30 of a stab wound to the chest. He was attacked on West Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles during a drug deal and street robbery.

Jose Garcia, 15: Died in East Los Angeles from a gunshot wound to the chest, reportedly after a fight. The death may have been gang-related.

Susan Morgan, 24: Died on East 115th Street in Los Angeles on May 1, reportedly the victim of an altercation with her boyfriend.

Hugo Ramires, 24: Died of a gunshot wound on May 3 in Baldwin Park, outside the riot area.

Imad Sharaf, 30: Was set on fire in Mission Hills in connection with an apparent drug deal. His body was found May 3.

Edward Travens, 15: Died of multiple gunshot wounds in a drive-by shooting on April 29. The incident was in San Fernando, outside the riot zone, and may have been gang-related.

John Doe No. 90: Unidentified Latino male died of a heart attack at Parker Center on May 3 after his arrest for a curfew violation. Death was attributed to drugs, alcohol and liver disease.

SOURCE: Los Angeles County coroner’s office