Blacks Urge U.S. Probe of O.C. Deputy’s Death

Frustrated by the state’s refusal to intervene in a simmering controversy, black leaders in Orange County called Wednesday for a federal investigation into possible civil-rights violations in the Christmas Day shooting of a local sheriff’s deputy.

“We’re going to keep going with this,” said Randall Jordan, a minister and publisher in Orange County who met with the undersheriff last week to discuss the case.

“There is anger in the African American community over the death of Deputy (Darryn Leroy) Robins,” Jordan said. “A black officer was killed by a white officer, and some people do have feelings that there was some foul play here. . . . Deputy Robins was one of our own.”

Authorities at the U. S. attorney’s office said they would look at the request and determine whether a federal investigation is warranted.

Robins, 30, was fatally shot in the face by fellow Deputy Brian Scanlan around 2 p.m. Dec. 25 while they were reportedly running through an informal training drill at a parking lot behind a Lake Forest movie theater. He is survived by a wife and 17-month-old daughter.

The district attorney’s office assumed control of the investigation at the outset and is seeking to determine whether any criminal charges should be filed against Scanlan, 32, because of the shooting. The investigation, already underway for more than 2 1/2 weeks, is expected to continue through month’s end.

Black leaders acknowledge that no evidence of a racial motive has surfaced in what authorities describe as an accidental shooting. And they say they have seen no sign of wrongdoing or incompetence by the district attorney’s office, which investigates all officer-involved shootings under a county policy established in 1985.

Rather, these leaders say, they have been bothered by what they describe as a gnawing concern that the full story about the shooting may never come out. This concern has centered on the close daily working relationship between the Sheriff’s Department and the district attorney’s office, both of which are part of the county government structure.

“The perception is that this is a very questionable arrangement at best,” said Eugene Wheeler, a health administrator who is president of a civic and professional group called 100 Black Men of Orange County. Wheeler accompanied Jordan to last week’s meeting with Undersheriff Raul Ramos, who was told of the black leaders’ concerns.

Jordan, publisher of the Black Orange monthly magazine, said the idea of the district attorney investigating the Sheriff’s Department “is like one sister telling her mother on the other sister.”

But state officials say they see no conflict.

Since the shooting, Sheriff Brad Gates and his department have come under increasing criticism from community leaders, who have questioned why the deputies were training in a public site with loaded weapons and why the department was so slow to release information on the case.

Seeking to mollify critics in the black community, Gates asked the state attorney general’s office earlier this week to conduct an independent investigation into the case. But state officials turned down the request, saying that they might later review the findings of the district attorney’s office once its investigation is complete.

Black leaders, who forged an informal coalition of more than a dozen Orange County civic, religious and business groups to press the Robins case, suggested Wednesday that the maneuvering over the state investigation may not have helped Gates’ standing.

Wheeler said he believes Gates was “sincere” in his efforts, but he acknowledged that some black leaders think the sheriff may have been merely politicking when he made his unusual request for a state investigation. It was turned down within hours.

“Some people believe (Gates’ request) was a three-card monte game . . . a kind of sleight of hand--now you see it, now you don’t.”

But Lt. Dan Martini, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department, characterized such claims as “unwarranted speculation. . . . The sheriff gave it a very good-faith effort in response to a community request.”

Now that the attorney general has turned Gates down, Martini said, the sheriff does not appear likely to join the call for a federal investigation. “At this point, the attitude of the sheriff would be to let the district attorney continue his investigation and await the findings,” he said.

While state officials have declined to take an active role in the case, the Orange County Human Relations Commission announced that it will be discussing the issue tonight at its monthly meeting.

The commission, an 11-member, county-appointed panel that attempts to foster improved inter-group relations, will discuss and monitor the progress of the case to help reassure skeptical members of the black community, chairwoman Fran Williams said.

“I’ve been approached by any number of people who asked about the investigation, who wanted to know what happened,” said Williams, a psychologist and Rancho Santiago College professor. “They want to be assured that what happened was indeed an accident, and that it was non-racial.”

While Williams said she believes the probe “is being handled well,” she said the commission can act as a community liaison to squelch any rumors. “We don’t want to see this escalate into something that it is not. . . We don’t want to see finger-pointing or blame that is unfounded.”

But some members of the black community said they need to maintain a high profile.

Comprising less than 2% of Orange County’s population, the 42,000-member black community has often struggled to find a voice in local political affairs. But Jordan said he was impressed by how quickly civic leaders united on the Robins case.

“The black community is really just starting to come together as a united community,” he said. “We were able to get a good cross-section of major organizations here, and I don’t think that has been done in the past--especially this expeditiously.”

To capitalize on that momentum, said the Rev. Van Roberson, president of the Baptist Ministers Fellowship Conference in Orange County, local blacks must press ahead for a full and independent federal investigation in the Robins case.

“It really hurts to have the attorney general turn us down,” he said. “But I believe we may have to take further steps . . . to take this higher. I’m sure (district attorney’s officials) are doing their job. It’s just a matter of beefing it up a little bit to get some answers.”

Carole Levitsky, spokeswoman for the U. S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, said that if formally asked to review the case, “we would certainly take a look at it . . . to see if federal involvement is warranted.” The FBI would ordinarily conduct such an investigation.

Claims of possible civil rights violations--as made by black leaders in the Robins case--often fall under the jurisdiction of the U. S. attorney’s office, and federal prosecutors used such claims to retry the four officers last year in the Rodney G. King beating case.

Jean Kawahara, the assistant U. S. attorney in charge of the Orange County office, noted that, as in the King case, prosecutors do not necessarily have to find a racial motive to charge that someone’s civil rights were violated. But she declined comment on the Robins shooting, saying she had not seen any specifics on the case.

District attorney’s officials have insisted that they can handle the investigation fully and completely. Deputy Dist. Atty. Chris Evans, who is overseeing the case, declined comment Wednesday, however, on whether public attention on that issue has hampered the office’s work.

“I can’t say anything because the investigation is pending,” Evans said.

Correspondent Geoff Boucher contributed to this report.