Fund Drive Begins for Victim of Riot Beating : Assistance: Group launches series of benefits for Fidel Lopez, who was among those injured at Florence and Normandie.

The nightmare is always the same: The mob that dragged Fidel Lopez from his truck at Florence and Normandie avenues at the start of the riots has returned to kill him.

After a restless night with little sleep, Lopez said, he wakes up to a searing headache and dizzy spells. He finds it difficult to work, and struggles to support his wife and three daughters.

To help him get back on his feet, members of the city’s Latino community launched a drive Wednesday to raise money for Lopez and his family.

Calling Lopez one of the forgotten victims of the Los Angeles riots, businesswoman Sandy Pina said she will spearhead a series of fund-raisers, beginning with a special tribute to him Nov. 20 at Stevens Steakhouse in the City of Commerce. She also announced the formation of a committee to solicit donations from residents and corporations.

“Mr. Lopez and his family have suffered a tremendous trauma,” Pina said at a news conference at the El Centro Substance Abuse Program facility on Brooklyn Avenue on the Eastside. “It’s important that we as community come together to help him.”

Lopez, a self-employed construction worker from Guatemala, testified in the Reginald O. Denny trial that he was robbed and severely beaten in the April 29, 1992, attack at the intersection. As Lopez lay bloody and unconscious on the pavement, his face and genitals were spray-painted black. He was robbed of $2,800, money a contractor had given him to buy supplies.

Finally, he was rescued by the Rev. Bennie Newton. Newton, who died in April of cancer, threw his body over Lopez and yelled at rioters: “Kill him and you have to kill me too!”

Although Lopez escaped with his life, he suffers from partial hearing loss because of the beating. He also experiences intense exhaustion and chronic headaches.

“I’m not the same person I was before the beating,” Lopez said.

During the attack, Lopez suffered facial cuts--including a four-inch gash across his forehead--that required more than 250 stitches and three to four hours to close.

Damian Monroe Williams, who was convicted of beating Denny, was also found guilty of misdemeanor assault for the attack on Lopez and two other men.

Lopez, 48, said he was disappointed that jurors acquitted Williams and co-defendant Henry Keith Watson on some charges and found them guilty of less serious crimes than they were charged with.

He said he thought the jury feared that violence might erupt if they found Williams and Watson guilty as charged. After reflecting for a moment, Lopez said that perhaps the verdicts were for the best if they prevented violence.

Shortly after the riots, Lopez and his family left their South-Central Los Angeles home and moved to a small apartment in a safer neighborhood. Lopez hoped the change in location would help his family put their lives back together.

But the move only compounded his problems.

His house in Los Angeles is in foreclosure. Although Lopez has received about $5,000 in donations, mostly from a group Newton started after the riots, the money quickly ran out.

His medical problems have made it difficult for him to work, and his family lives in fear of attack.

“My youngest daughter still cries at night,” Lopez said.

Pina and her husband, Jaime, heard about Lopez’s plight through news reports and decided to help the family.

“All of a sudden the page was turned on the riots and this guy was forgotten about,” said Jaime Pina, the director of the El Centro Substance Abuse Program. “We said we had to do something for him.”

Sandy Pina said she hopes to raise $25,000--enough money for the family to settle their bills. She said she is also seeking medical services for Lopez.

“He got into a hole and he cannot get out,” Sandy Pina said. “We were shocked and upset by what has happened to him. His beating was the most demeaning of all. . . . The citizens of East Los Angeles plan to ensure that he and his family will no longer be considered the forgotten victims.”