Davis Is Released; Probe Continues

Not far from Dodger Stadium, but in a world that isn’t even close, Willie Davis strode out of the Men’s Central Jail on Tuesday. After spending five nights in a cell next to Lyle Menendez, Davis was released when his mother and the L.A. County district attorney’s office declined to press charges in a bizarre domestic violence case.

“What’s going on, guys?” the former Dodger outfielder said happily when he spotted a family member and friend there to pick him up.

Davis, 55, was arrested by Carson sheriff deputies just before midnight Thursday after showing up at his parents’ home armed with a samurai sword and two hunter’s knives. He allegedly threatened to burn their house down and them with it unless they gave him $5,000. Both Davis and his mother, 76, now deny that threats were made.

But this was not the first time that deputies have been called to Maudest Davis’ home near Gardena--where Davis has lived the past two years. Sheriff deputies say they have responded to the house on numerous occasions for disputes but have never made an arrest. “[Sheriffs] have come and we’ve made golf dates,” Davis said Tuesday, then smiled.

“I don’t have a problem at all [involving domestic violence].”

Detective Jacques Nadeau of the Carson sheriff’s station, who handled the Thursday incident, could not be reached Tuesday night to comment on Davis’ allegation, and a representative of the sheriff’s office declined comment.

Nadeau and Deputy District Attorney Richard Healey of the Compton office, earlier said Davis was released pending further investigation because authorities could not secure an interview with Davis’ stepfather, Charles Davies, who was at the house during the Thursday incident.

Davis was in a jovial mood as he left the jail and planned to return to his mother’s home, even though his mother has reportedly said she didn’t want him to.

Davis said his mother had him arrested this time, as opposed to the others, because he was “exposing” her greed. “She had just got a loan on the house that I bought,” Davis said, “and she didn’t want to give me any money.”

He said he wanted the money because his son, Shonin Casey, will be in town next week to play in a baseball game against Long Beach State. Casey, whom Davis says is a major-league prospect, plays for Wichita State University. “I just wanted to buy some clothes and go out to dinner and show him a great time because he is a great son,” Davis said.

Davis, questioned by reporters about drugs, said he has never had a problem with drugs or alcohol--although he was ticketed in 1993 for possessing less then an ounce of marijuana. ‘If I want some drugs,” Davis says, “all I do is say, ‘Hey man, throw me a smoke, grass or something,’ and they throw it at me.”

He said the reason he had knives is because he always carries weapons in the crime-ridden neighborhood. “It wasn’t a samurai sword it was just a long sword,” he said. “I have my things I always carry around with me over in the ‘hood, me being a professional. You have to be careful because they want to attack you all the time, but when they see my stuff they don’t even look toward me.”

After Davis was traded to the Montreal Expos in 1973 for pitcher Mike Marshall, he bounced around, ending his major league career with the Angels in 1979 before playing in Mexico and Japan. Once retired, he spent time teaching golf, tennis and baseball and says that because he is a scratch golfer, he plans to join the senior tour.

But Tuesday night, Davis was looking forward to going home to see his friends at the liquor store across the street from his house. “Willie talks his trash, telling everybody here to do right,” Ulysses Cartwright said as he stood in line at the store to buy a can of beer. “Some of the younger guys listen, some of the older guys don’t. But he tries to keep everybody straight.”