Questions Raised in Death of Man Shot by Taser : Reaction: Friends of a popular barber who died after a police chase ask why the stun gun was used on him when he stumbled into a swimming pool. An autopsy fails to determine what killed him.

Dozens of people gathered in front of the Lincoln Avenue Barber Shop in Pasadena on Thursday to mourn the death of the bulky, impulsively generous man who had run the place for more than 10 years.

Michael James Bryant--barber to hundreds of African-American men from Pasadena and Altadena, occasionally including Rodney G. King--died Tuesday after police arrested him at the end of a long car chase.

The 37-year-old Altadena resident had allegedly struck and injured a San Marino police officer.

The officer, Mark Fried, said Bryant had summoned him from a closed gas station on Huntington Drive and then acted suspiciously. Fried suffered leg injuries when Bryant jumped into his car and drove off, clipping him as he passed, a San Marino police spokesman said.

The incident set off a pursuit involving officers from San Marino, Pasadena and Los Angeles. It ended in Highland Park, where Bryant left his car and stumbled into a back-yard swimming pool. Unable to persuade him to leave the pool, investigators said, a Los Angeles police officer shot him with a Taser electric stun gun. Bryant climbed out of the pool, then died in the back seat of a patrol car a few minutes later.

An autopsy Wednesday did not determine an official cause of death. More tests have been ordered, a coroner’s spokeswoman said.

Meanwhile, residents of predominantly African-American and Latino northwest Pasadena have turned the front of Bryant’s shop into a shrine. Bouquets of flowers have been affixed to the closed iron accordion gate, and votive candles burn on the stoop.

A sign reads: “We Will Remember You Michael James Bryant.” Hundreds of people have signed a piece of poster board carrying the words “Michael had a dream, too.”

Some residents said they will maintain a vigil outside the shop until he is buried. Funeral arrangements are pending.

The barbershop was a popular gathering place where men exchanged views about anything from sports to the federal trial of four police officers accused of violating King’s civil rights. Many watched the state trial last year on Bryant’s TV set.

“He was truly a follower of the trial,” said Horace Wormely, director of the nearby Jackie Robinson Community Center. “He could give you a blow-by-blow account.”

Bryant, who headed a drive to give low-income teen-agers free haircuts before schools opened in September, was known for his good nature, residents said. The fun-loving barber was an avid roller skater who frequented Skate Junction, a West Covina rink.

“I’ll tell you what he was like,” said a man who identified himself as Brother J. C. “There was a time when I was out of work and he paid my rent and utility bills. He never asked for the money back. You don’t find people like that.”

“It was just a fun place to be,” Seipio English said of the barbershop. “There’d be standing room only in there. He was a very jolly guy without a mean streak in his body.”

Some questioned why police had used a Taser to subdue Bryant while he was standing in water.

Police and stun gun experts say that, if anything, the presence of water diminishes the effect of the Taser.

Jim McNulty, general manager of Tasertron, the Newport Beach firm that developed the weapon 11 years ago, said that when a target is standing in water some of the electric charge usually leaks away.

Los Angeles Police Lt. William Hall, who investigates officer-involved shootings, said officers appeared to have little choice.

“I suppose they might have elected to go into the pool,” Hall said. “But he was a whole lot bigger than any of them.”

Bryant stood about 6-foot-2 and weighed about 300 pounds.

Many of his friends said they doubted the police version. Others wanted to know why officers did not just wait him out.

“They’re spending $2 million a day to wait on those people down in Waco,” one man said of the standoff between authorities and a Texas cult. “But they can’t wait a few minutes for Michael Bryant?”

Hall said officers had apparently waited at least five minutes before using the Taser.

“In an emotionally charged situation like that, at some point you’ve got to do something,” the lieutenant said.

Taylor Morton, president of the Pasadena chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, said his organization’s investigation indicated that the incident was not racially motivated.

“He was allegedly under the influence to some extent,” Morton said, “and the San Marino police efforts appear to have been for Mr. Bryant’s own welfare.”

But the Los Angeles police involvement was improper, Morton said.

“It was a flight, not a fight, situation,” he said. “Given Mr. Bryant’s size and the fact that he was under the influence of a controlled substance, shooting him with the Taser was unacceptable.”

Prentice Deadrick, manager of northwest Pasadena’s neighborhood programs, said Bryant’s death has increased tensions in the area.

“When a person dies like that, it doesn’t matter whether there was intent or not,” he said. “The death represents a homicide to people. It doesn’t matter whether it was reasonable or justified. The fact of the matter is the person died as a result of what the police did to him.”

Bryant is survived by a wife and two children, ages 8 and 12.

Many residents said his death removed a force for stability when it is most needed. “Some people call me a militant,” said Brother J. C. “But I’d come here and he’d always encourage me to be more low-key. That’s the kind of advice he’d give.”