Officials Meet With Protesters

Los Angeles Police Chief Willie L. Williams and a congressman met in private Tuesday with gang members and community leaders from the northeastern San Fernando Valley to cool off rising tensions over the death of a gang member shot to death 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 killed as he 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 Rep. Howard L. 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 was using the drug PCP, which police say can give increased strength and cause bizarre behavior, was announced the same day that several civil rights groups called the Los Angeles Police Department “trigger-happy” and demanded a speedy investigation of 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 Lopez had a .21% level of PCP in his blood and an alcohol level of .06%, which is below the legal intoxication limit.

“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.”

An hour after the meeting with Williams and Berman, more than 50 protesters marched on the Foothill station in Pacoima.

Some of the protesters were unaware of the coroner’s report. “I didn’t hear about the coroner’s report,” Gilbert Perez, 21, of Pacoima said. “But even if he was on PCP, it wasn’t right for them to shoot him nine times.”

The demonstration grew tense when protesters suddenly stormed across Osborne Street and confronted officers near a patrol car parked in the lot of a fast-food restaurant. More than a dozen officers followed and one man was taken into custody for jaywalking, but was later ticketed and released.

The crowd--carrying signs that read “No justice, no peace” and “No more pigs”--marched before the station, chanting “Justice now” and “Our race united will never be divided.”

But others, such as Gutierrez, called for the demonstrators to end their protests.

“We got what we wanted. . .we got to talk to Williams,” Gutierrez 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 an hallucinogenic that most law enforcement officials and many medical researchers say can give a user extraordinary strength and cause extreme swings in behavior.

First synthesized in 1958 as a surgical anesthetic, its only current use is as an animal tranquilizer. Researchers originally involved in testing the drug documented that side effects can include an adrenaline release that creates a “fight or flight” reaction in users.

Critics often counter that police agencies have used the belief that suspects were under the influence of PCP as a justification for using excessive force.

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

Romero of the Hispanic Advisory Council said the department should have policies and procedures for dealing with PCP users short of using deadly force.

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.

The groups’ demands were prompted by the slaying of Lopez as well as the July 1 shooting by police of tow truck driver John Daniels in South-Central Los Angeles. Daniels, who was unarmed, was driving his truck away from officers who were questioning him about his vehicle’s registration. The Daniels shooting also is under investigation by the department.

“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.”

Police officials said little in response to the groups’ requests. Williams deferred comment to Commission President Jesse Brewer, who said he was concerned over 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.