Grocer Donates Food After Store Accident : Pacoima: Kevin C. Choi complies with a court sentence for a safety violation. A worker, who lost most of his arm, says the penalty is too light.

A Pacoima market owner convicted of a safety violation that led an employee to lose most of his right arm in a meat grinder complied with a court order and donated $3,000 worth of food to the needy Tuesday.

Kevin C. Choi, the owner of El Tigre Market, pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor count of allowing the grinder to be operated without a safety guard. He was ordered in January to pay a $1,000 fine and donate the goods to the Pacoima Senior Center and two Pacoima-based churches that operate food banks.

A spokesman for the city attorney’s office said Choi was warned about the missing guard before the accident but failed to replace it--a contention Choi denies.

“I hope some good can come out of this tragic situation,” City Atty. James K. Hahn said as the cases of canned goods and other non-perishable foodstuffs were unloaded at the senior citizen center and picked up by representatives of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Christ Memorial Church of God and Christ.

The donation of canned tomatoes, butter beans, rice and other goods pleased food bank officials but angered the victim in the case, Enrique Solis, 21, of North Hollywood.

Solis lost his right hand and forearm Jan. 19, 1992, when he slipped and fell into the device, which severed most of his limb before he could turn off the machine.

“I think he should get more fines,” Solis said of Choi. “It was very painful and I can’t work.”

Deputy City Atty. Edmund Fimbres said Choi’s sentence was harsher than the $1,000 fine called for under the law.

Choi was also placed on 18 months probation and was ordered to pay $350 in court costs.

“We got what we could, given it was a first offense,” Fimbres said. “I don’t think Mr. Choi will take safety issues lightly in the future.”

Choi called the sentence unfair in a telephone interview Tuesday, adding that Solis was warned by other employees to be careful “after the guard was removed for cleaning and two of the four screws that hold it in place were stripped.”

Solis has filed a workers’ compensation claim and could receive up to $100,000 if the claim is substantiated, Solis’ attorney said.