Police Accused of Bias During Riots : Damages: Claims filed by Korean-American merchants in Long Beach say their businesses were left unprotected by forces deployed in a discriminatory manner. City says race had nothing to do with deployment.

The lawlessness triggered by the verdicts in the Rodney G. King beating case rushed into Ben’s Market like a tidal wave.

“A lot of people opened my store and they took everything,” said owner Hai Ik Son. “We called the police, but they said they could not come to my store.”

She and her husband, Kee Joo Son, also approached officers who were watching a fire at a nearby mall. But the officers said they were busy and could not protect the Sons’ Long Beach Boulevard market, which is now closed, the couple said.

That was more than six months ago. Now the Sons are seeking compensation from the city of Long Beach for their losses.

They are among more than 100 people, most of them Korean-American, who have filed claims alleging that police failed to protect their businesses from being looted and burned during last spring’s riots.

The City Council forwarded the claims last week to the city attorney’s office. Each claim seeks compensation for losses of more than $10,000.

Most claims include a statement that accuses the Long Beach Police Department of deploying its forces in a discriminatory manner.

The Assn. of Korean American Victims of the L.A. Riot, which is based in Los Angeles, produced the statement and helped many of the Long Beach merchants file their claims within six months of the riots, the legal deadline that expired this month.

“The police didn’t do their job,” Jin Lee, general secretary of the association, said in an interview. “They were turning their backs on Korean-American business owners.

Long Beach officials have acknowledged that police were sometimes overwhelmed. But Assistant City Atty. Robert E. Shannon said race had nothing to do with the way officers were deployed.

“Any allegation that there was any kind of discrimination by the Police Department is just baloney,” Shannon said. “Everything was handled in Long Beach in a totally non-discriminatory manner.”

Shannon added that many claims were vague, and he did not see any “reasonable possibility” that the city would pay damages.

The merchants will decide whether to file lawsuits against the city if the claims are denied, Lee said.

In all, 387 Long Beach businesses were affected by the riots that followed the not guilty verdicts last April for four police officers accused of beating King, according to city officials.

The city has rejected three claims, the only others related to the riots, Deputy City Atty. Michael J. Mais said. The plaintiffs in one of those cases have since filed a $5-million lawsuit against the city in Long Beach Superior Court.