Remarks at Memorial Service Assailed : Compton: Slain officer’s family, colleagues are angered by Councilwoman Moore’s comments on King case.

Compton City Councilwoman Patricia Moore is being chastised by fellow council members, police and citizens for what they say are politically charged comments she made Monday at the memorial service for slain Policeman Kevin Michael Burrell.

Three council members have called for a public apology and Burrell’s father said he now wishes he had not invited Moore to speak. The Compton Police Officers Assn. and a citizens group want Moore to resign.

“We don’t want law enforcement agencies to think we had anything to do with (Moore’s comments),” Mayor Pro Tem Bernice Woods said during Tuesday night’s council meeting. “We are very sorry that anything like this happened.”

Some of those who attended the memorial service said they were offended when Moore mentioned the beating of Rodney G. King by Los Angeles police and implied that police and prosecutors were responsible for the incarceration of hundreds of innocent African-American men. They said they were also angered when Moore seemed to imply that there would be another riot if four men accused of beating motorist Reginald O. Denny are convicted.

In an interview Wednesday, Moore said her comments were “totally appropriate” and pointed out that many people applauded what she said.

“What did I say that was wrong?” Moore asked. “I said we need good officers like him (Burrell) and not like” the four officers who beat King.

Moore, who is running for mayor of Compton, has been at the center of several recent controversies.

She was active in an unsuccessful recall effort against Superior Court Judge Joyce A. Karlin, who gave probation to a Korean-born store owner convicted of shooting Latasha Harlins, an African-American teen-ager. The store owner had contended that the girl was shoplifting.

Moore was also vocal in the controversy surrounding the beating of King. She predicted before last year’s state trial that there would be civil disorder if the four white officers accused of excessive force were acquitted and called the subsequent rioting a “revolution.”

Officers Burrell and James Wayne MacDonald were shot execution-style Feb. 22 after a routine traffic stop. Police are still searching for the killers, one of whom has been tentatively identified.

The controversy over Moore’s comments reached the radio airwaves Tuesday when Burrell’s father called in to former Los Police Chief Daryl F. Gates’ radio talk show, where Moore was a guest.

“First I would like to apologize to every law enforcement officer in the United States--and the world, if necessary. If I had known she was going to say that, I would not have invited her to speak,” Clark Burrell said.

“I would like her to call my house and apologize to my entire family,” he also said on the air.

Moore called the Burrell household and apologized for causing any grief, but she also said she did not think she had said anything wrong, Clark Burrell said.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Burrell said. “She didn’t think it was wrong to bring up Rodney King at my son’s funeral? My son loved the police force, ever since he was a child. That was not the place to bring up Rodney King.”

Much of the criticism is coming from Compton police officers.

“We’re going to do everything in our power to get her out of office,” said Detective Michael Sean Markey of the police union.

Most troubling about Moore’s comments, Markey said, were statements he considered to be derogatory about Los Angeles police and prosecutors.

“As president of the officer’s association, I was embarrassed--especially as the LAPD has been very supportive and has been assisting us in the investigation (of the killing of the two officers). That was our time to mourn--not for politics.”

Moore did not attend Tuesday night’s council meeting where Woods called for her to apologize.

The only two other people now on Compton’s council, Omar Bradley and Jane D. Robbins, said Wednesday that they also think an apology is warranted. Bradley is one of the candidates running against Moore for mayor.

Bradley said he was troubled by attacks Moore seemed to be making against Gov. Pete Wilson, who also spoke at the memorial service.

At Tuesday’s council meeting, Lorraine Cervantes of Christians in Action for a Better Compton, said Moore should resign immediately.

“Yesterday (at the memorial service), we were embarrassed in front of the world,” Cervantes said.

Times staff writer Edward J. Boyer and Times correspondent Suzan Schill contributed to this report.