Police Beating of Minister Disputed

Appearing battered with a swollen face, the western regional director of the Nation of Islam stood Friday with community activists who accused Los Angeles police of beating the leader without provocation during a street vigil for a Hyde Park slaying victim Thursday night.

Police, however, said Minister Tony Muhammad had joined in a mob assault on two police officers and was injured in the “scuffle” when police tried to take him into custody.

“Minister Tony Muhammad became quite belligerent and joined in the assault,” Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell said at an afternoon news conference.

Police arrested Muhammad on suspicion of battery of an officer, and two of his bodyguards were arrested on suspicion of resisting or obstructing an officer.

The incident prompted a day of press conferences and demonstrations, with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa speaking on live television promising a full investigation and urging the community to stay united.

Los Angeles Sentinel Publisher Danny Bakewell told reporters that the officers punched and kicked Muhammad as he lay on the ground.

“The attack was unprovoked. He was wrestled to the ground, pepper-sprayed in his face, and once he was on the ground he was kicked brutally and punched in the mouth,” said Bakewell, a longtime activist and founder of the Brotherhood Crusade.

The incident erupted as angry residents gathered to mourn 21-year-old Nahum Beaird, who was killed Wednesday in what police believe was a gang-related shooting. Some bystanders claim that paramedics declared Beaird dead even though he appeared to move under the sheet. Los Angeles fire and police officials deny this, saying he was dead at the scene.

City Councilwoman Jan Perry told reporters that Muhammad told her the confrontation began when he approached police to complain that they had not set up traffic control and that a police car had driven up the street quickly.

Bakewell added that Muhammad was speaking by cellphone with Deputy Chief Earl Paysinger just before the altercation, telling the officers, “I’m on the phone with your boss.”

One man who said he witnessed the incident said Friday that officers struck Muhammad after he came out of a nearby apartment complex and began to talk to them. “They hit him with their fists and then their nightsticks,” said the man, who spoke on the condition that he not be named.

The LAPD, however, offered a significantly different account.

Officers were patrolling the 6300 block of 10th Avenue in the Hyde Park neighborhood, where Beaird was shot, on Thursday to protect against potential retaliatory shootings, McDonnell said. About 8:30 p.m., two officers asked Nation of Islam members to move two double-parked SUVs that were blocking traffic, fearing the vehicles could become a target.

The officers then were surrounded and assaulted, McDonnell said. One officer’s breast pocket and name tag were ripped, and a police radio was stolen. Muhammad joined in the assault, he said.

As officers tried to arrest the minister for battery on a police officer, a “scuffle ensued,” McDonnell said.

More than 100 officers were sent to the scene to prevent further violence, said McDonnell, who was acting chief during the incident. LAPD Chief William J. Bratton returned Friday evening from vacation and went to the station near Hyde Park.

“We can only trust that the community will rationally evaluate the situation and consider the facts and the source of those facts,” McDonnell said during a press conference Friday afternoon in front of a church not far from the apartment complex.

About an hour later at 5 p.m., Villaraigosa called for unity and calm.

“Let me be clear: No one is above the law,” Villaraigosa said. “Not a politician, not a priest, not a criminal, not a police officer. We are all accountable for our actions.”

Villaraigosa was flanked at the press conference by John Mack, the civil rights leader the mayor recently appointed head of the police commission, and Inspector General Andre Birotte.

“We must not turn on each other right now,” Villaraigosa said. “We must unite against gun and gang violence.”

Mack acknowledged the flare-up of distrust and anger over the incident, saying it was “heavy and deep.”

“Clearly if indeed people need to be held accountable they will be held accountable,” he said.

This is the latest in several high-profile LAPD incidents over the last two years to generate concern and anger in the community.

Last summer, TV news helicopters captured an LAPD officer beating a car-chase suspect in Compton with a metal flashlight.

Then, earlier this year, an LAPD officer fatally shot a 13-year-old boy who led them on a short car chase in a stolen vehicle through South Los Angeles. Last month, SWAT officers fatally shot a 19-month-old girl and her father, who had engaged police in a gun battle and hostage standoff in Watts.

The area where Beaird was shot is in the heart of South Los Angeles, which accounts for less than 10% of the city’s area but 42% of its homicides.

Police on Friday also held a community meeting to explain their position to activists.

“If they can beat him, we are all in danger, unless the Los Angeles Police Department is reformed,” Bakewell said. “Can you imagine if this happened to Cardinal [Roger] Mahony?”

Muhammad spoke briefly during the news conference but took no questions.

“My head is bloodied but it’s unbowed,” said Muhammad, whose face and lip were severely swollen on one side. He also had a lump on his forehead. Bakewell said Muhammad was going to seek hospital treatment for a possible concussion.

“Nothing’s changed in 40 years,” Muhammad said, referencing the 1965 Watts riots. “I want those of you on the front lines tonight to finish what’s been started.”

While criticizing the officers involved in the incident, Bakewell praised Deputy Chief Paysinger and Capt. Kenneth Garner for helping him get the minister bailed out of jail shortly before 1 a.m. Friday. The officials also allowed him to visit Muhammad in his cellblock.

Bishop Edward Turner of the Power of Love Community Church moved Friday to discount rumors he said were spreading in South Los Angeles that Muhammad had been beaten while in jail.

Muhammad, a 47-year-old Atlanta native, is a rising star of the Nation of Islam. Since coming to Los Angeles in 1995, he has tried to reach out to other groups, and at a police commission meeting this week he hugged Villaraigosa. County Sheriff Lee Baca has counted himself an ally, working with Muhammad on gang problems, inmate rehabilitation and other issues. Muhammad has also settled gang disputes at his Vermont Avenue mosque. Sometimes he does the unorthodox, like the time he invited 10 gang members to learn etiquette at a four-course formal dinner at his home.

Joe Hicks, vice president of Community Advocates and a longtime community leader, said the incident comes as Muhammad is attempting to play a larger role in community activism in Los Angeles. Hicks noted that Muhammad led a group of protesters at this week’s Los Angeles Police Commission in calling for the firing of the officer who shot the 13-year-old car-chase suspect.

Muhammad “is trying to muscle in as a major political figure in L.A.,” Hicks said. “The Nation [of Islam] in L.A. has never ranked with the Urban League and NAACP.”

Hicks said the community should not lose sight of the fact that the entire incident began with another case of gang violence.

“What is being overlooked here is black-on-black violence,” Hicks said. “That’s why there was a vigil there.”

Bob Baker, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the officers union, wrote in a letter to members, “Muhammad and his group of misguided individuals were attempting to bait our officers into violence. The Police Protective League urges you not to take the bait.”

He said the union is “appalled” that Muhammad’s actions have not sparked community outrage.

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Times staff writers Jocelyn Y. Stewart and Richard Fausset contributed to this report.