Long Beach Chief Defends Fatal Shooting

Long Beach Police Chief Jerome E. Lance on Sunday defended his officers’ shooting last month of a knife-wielding black woman, denying allegations that race played a role.

“Had it been my mother, it would have been handled the same,” Lance told a crowd of about 100 at a public forum of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People.

The shooting prompted a protest march last week and an unprecedented number of complaint calls to the NAACP.

“Put your son, your daughter, your mother in that position. You won’t fire the bullet,” Clarence Robbins, 63, responded to Lance, drawing loud applause.

But the forum ended with applause for the chief after one man called him courageous for addressing their concerns and others commended him for trying to improve police-community relations.

“This is a first step for what has to be an ongoing dialogue,” said Noemi Raines, president of the Long Beach NAACP.

The shooting occurred on a Saturday morning when Marcella Byrd, 57, allegedly brandished a knife at employees of a downtown store and then left without paying for groceries.

Police confronted her on Pine Avenue, where she was walking toward the downtown restaurant district.

Police said they shot her with two miniature bean-bag rounds meant to stun her, but Byrd, who weighed 277 pounds, did not stop.

After following her for a block and ordering her several times to stop and drop the knife, police said, Byrd waved the weapon menacingly at them.

Three officers opened fire, shooting eight rounds. Byrd died at a hospital.

Police later learned that Byrd was schizophrenic. Her family said she refused to take medication, according to police.

Lance refused to address specific questions about the shooting, saying that the matter is under investigation and that pending litigation prohibits him from doing so.

But he said officers are allowed to fire if they perceive a threat, and they followed policy by shooting at Byrd’s torso, not her limbs.

“That is where they are trained to shoot, and that’s where she was shot,” he said.

But some residents wondered why the officers didn’t use an attack dog, fire hoses or some other means to stop Byrd.

“Murder, that’s what it was,” said Ronald Jordan, president of the Black Student Alliance at Long Beach City College.

Royce Esters, president of the National Assn. for Equal Justice in America, a Compton-based group, said: “I don’t know how in the world she could have thrown a knife and hit three or four officers from 15 to 20 feet. They could have talked to that lady, even if it took 100 hours.” Lance admitted the department had some “bad apples” and said he had recommended that several officers be fired for abusive behavior.

But the chief also called his department a leader in cultural awareness programs.

Some community leaders said tensions will remain until the department completes its report of the incident, which is expected in three months.

“A lot of this will lead us to have a safer community and a better [police] department,” said Councilwoman Laura Richardson-Batts.