Officer’s Bullets Hit Actor in Back, Autopsy Finds

The television actor killed by a Los Angeles police officer responding to a noise complaint at a Halloween party was shot once in the back of the head and three times in the back, wounds that appear to contradict police accounts, according to an autopsy report released Monday.

Police said Anthony Dwain Lee was killed Oct. 28 at a Benedict Canyon mansion after pointing a replica handgun at an officer standing outside a glass door. Lee, 39, who was in a back bedroom with two other men, turned suddenly toward an officer who was shining a flashlight through the glass, police said.

The coroner’s report, signed by Deputy Medical Examiner Jeffrey P. Gutstadt, found that Lee had been struck from behind by four bullets, with two in the back causing his death as they tore through vital organs.

“He could not have withdrawn a gun from his waist and pointed a gun at the officer and then have been shot four times in the back. It’s impossible,” said Cameron Stewart, an attorney with the law firm of Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., who was retained by Lee’s family.

Stewart said she will file a claim soon with the city of Los Angeles, the first step in a wrongful-death action.

Calling the incident “a senseless, unprovoked tragedy,” Stewart said she hopes city officials “will recognize the tragedy that has occurred and will step up to the plate and do the right thing.”

Lee, an up-and-coming actor who had years ago turned from gangs and become a Buddhist, was a friend of one of the hosts and a guest at the costume party. Residents of the house had hired a security guard and talked to neighbors in advance about the party.

Someone called police shortly after midnight to complain about noise. Los Angeles Police Officers Tarriel Hopper and Natalie Humpherys were dispatched to investigate. A security guard met them in an entry area and asked them to wait while he found one of the hosts.

But Hopper, 27, went outside. He made his his way along a narrow outdoor walkway and came to the back bedroom where Lee, Jeff Denton--one of the hosts--and a third man were chatting. Hopper said he shined his flashlight through the glass door. He fired when Lee allegedly reached into his waistband and pulled out what appeared to be a .357 Magnum semiautomatic handgun and waved it in his direction, according to police. The gun was a rubber replica.

Nine shots were fired, according to police, who are conducting an investigation. The district attorney’s office and Cochran’s firm are conducting their own separate inquiries.

Cocaine and alcohol were found in Lee’s system, the coroner’s autopsy report said.

LAPD spokesman Lt. Horace Frank said Monday he could not comment on the report because the department had not had a chance to read it. Regarding the four shots in the back, he said: “They can be explained.”

The coroner’s report, he said, will be a key component of the investigation.

“It should be noted there were reports early on in this investigation that Mr. Lee was struck in the back,” Frank said.

Lee’s sister, Tina Lee-Vogt, reached in Sacramento, said the coroner’s findings are a vindication of her brother.

She bristled at Chief Bernard C. Parks, who had said at a news conference that her brother was to blame for the shooting.

Lee-Vogt, who works as an assistant to the police chief of Sacramento, said the LAPD had tried to hold her brother responsible for his own death before all the facts were known.

“It was really irresponsible for Chief Parks to come out and try to sway public opinion like he did,” said Lee-Vogt.

“This whole thing makes me concerned about the truthfulness of the department. The whole press conference they put on, the displaying of the weapon, saying that my brother pointed the gun at that officer, a view I never supported . . . trying to sway public opinion, they showed a callous indifference to the taking of a life.”

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Times staff writer Jean Merl contributed to this story.