Man Gets 120 Days in Jail for Throwing Brick at Police Car

A Baldwin Park man was sentenced Monday to 120 days in jail for throwing a brick at a police car in Lincoln Heights during unrest that broke out after the police shooting of a 14-year-old boy.

Jurors deliberated several hours before convicting Jaime Avena, 22, on the misdemeanor charge of throwing an object at a moving vehicle. He was sentenced immediately after the verdict was announced in Los Angeles Municipal Court.

The charges stem from an incident that occurred about 8:15 p.m. July 30, when Avena hurled a piece of gray brick at two Los Angeles police officers responding to a call for assistance at North Broadway and Eastlake Avenue.

Deputy City Atty. Robert Skinner said Avena fled on foot into the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant after throwing the brick, but the two officers caught him. The officers were not injured.

Violence broke out in Lincoln Heights after the July 29 killing of Antonio Gutierrez. The teen-ager was shot four times by an officer who claimed the youth had a weapon.

Some witnesses said that it was a case of police brutality, and that Gutierrez was only carrying a flashlight in his pocket.

A subsequent investigation and autopsy showed that Gutierrez could have been holding the gun found near his body after the shooting, and the district attorney’s office later dropped its probe of the incident.

The unrest that followed the killing lasted two days and resulted in about 100 arrests.