Williams Meets With Gang Members Over Police Killing of Pacoima Teen-Ager

Los Angeles Police Chief Willie L. Williams and U.S. Rep. Howard L. Berman met in private Tuesday with gang members and community leaders from the northeastern San Fernando Valley to cool off rising tensions over the killing of a gang member by police.

The meeting took place shortly after the Los Angeles County coroner’s office reported that the dead youth, Efrain Lopez, 18, had a high level of the hallucinogenic drug PCP in his blood when he was shot as he allegedly attacked an officer with a broomstick last week.

Shortly after the meeting, about 30 protesters marched and chanted outside the Foothill Division police station in Pacoima, where the officer who shot Lopez is based.

More than 30 people--including gang members, teachers and community activists--gathered for a closed-door meeting about 5 p.m. with Williams, Deputy Chief Mark A. Kroeker and Berman (D-Panorama City), according to Foothill Division Capt. Tim McBride.

The meeting took place at David M. Gonzalez Park in Pacoima, McBride said. He declined to say what was discussed at the approximately hourlong meeting.

But Louie Gutierrez, 20, of Pacoima, who attended the meeting, said, “Williams said he’s going to try and get the community united with the officers. . . . He said he’s going to try and get us together.”

The finding that Lopez had used the drug--which police say can give increased strength and cause bizarre behavior--was announced the same day that several civil rights groups called the LAPD “trigger-happy” and demanded a speedy investigation into the shooting.

“Do officers really have to shoot a teen-ager with a broom nine times in order to subdue him?” asked Gloria Romero, chairwoman of the Hispanic Advisory Council.

The finding that Lopez had PCP and a small quantity of alcohol in his blood bolstered police and witness reports of the teen-ager’s behavior leading up to the Nov. 9 shooting. According to police and eyewitnesses, Lopez was shot to death when he advanced on Officer Neil Goldberg, 30, swinging a broomstick at him and yelling, “Shoot me! Kill me!” Moments earlier, Lopez had assaulted his mother and a neighbor and was making statements about being both Christ and the devil.

Scott Carrier, a spokesman for the coroner’s office, said toxicology tests determined that the PCP level in Lopez’s blood was 0.21 micrograms per milliliter and that his blood-alcohol level was 0.06%, which is below the legal intoxication limit of 0.08%.

“To my understanding that is a high level,” Carrier said of the PCP. “PCP affects people in different ways but any measurable amount is significant.”

The demonstration Tuesday evening outside the Foothill station grew tense when protesters stormed across Osborne Street and confronted officers near a patrol car parked in the lot of a fast-food restaurant.

Gutierrez called for the demonstrators to end their protests.

“We got what we wanted . . . we got to talk to Williams,” he shouted to the crowd. “But if nothing gets done, we’re going to start protesting up and down this street every day and every night.”

PCP commonly known as angel dust and technically as phencyclidine--is a hallucinogenic drug that most law enforcement officials and many medical researchers say can give a user extraordinary strength and cause extreme swings in behavior.

In the Rodney G. King beating case, police officers involved said they believed--wrongly--that King was under the influence of PCP and was thus not affected by repeated baton blows or electric shocks from a Taser gun.

In the Lopez case, police said the teen-ager ignored several commands to drop the broomstick. He initially ran from two officers and then turned and confronted them, investigators said.

Police said Goldberg dropped his baton and drew his weapon when he feared Lopez was about to strike his partner in the head. But Lopez then turned and began advancing on Goldberg, who feared for his own life and opened fire, police said.

Lopez continued advancing on Goldberg despite being shot several times in the chest, police said. While firing at Lopez, Goldberg backed up about 25 feet, police said. The teen-ager finally fell dead after Goldberg had emptied his gun.

The finding that Lopez, who was buried Tuesday, had used PCP did not deter members of seven civil rights groups who appeared Tuesday before the Police Commission.

Members of the groups urged commissioners and Chief Williams to review officer-involved shooting policies and strengthen training and procedures that might help avoid shootings.

“Unfortunately, chief, you have inherited a department that is trigger-happy,” said Allan Parachini, public affairs director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. “You need to do something about it.”

Williams deferred comment to Commission President Jesse Brewer, who said he was concerned about the shootings but that the department was not “dragging its feet.” He said thorough investigations into both shootings are “full speed ahead” but often are time-consuming.

Said Commission President Jesse Brewer: “This commission is looking for the same answers” as the civil rights groups. “We are just as much concerned with the conduct of officers in the department and the use of force in the field.”

There was a mixed response to Brewer’s comments. Parachini said, “I am willing to take him at his word.”

But Karol Heppe, executive director of Police Watch, said she was not satisfied with Brewer’s response, calling it the “same song and dance as usual.”