Transcript of Incident in Hyde Park Is Released

The Los Angeles Police Department released a brief transcript Saturday of communication between a dispatcher and the officer involved in last week’s altercation with Tony Muhammad, the Western regional director of the Nation of Islam.

As the transcript begins, an officer says, “Don’t walk behind me, don’t walk behind me.”

Muhammad replies, “I’m not doing nothing, I’m not going nowhere.”

After the officer tells him to “back up,” Muhammad responds, “Make me.”

The officer again says, “Back up,” to Muhammad, who responds by shouting, “Make me.”

The transcript ends with the officer calling for “additional units” and the dispatcher asking for clarification on what kind of help is needed. Police, who also played the recording from which the transcript was made, did not explain what happened next and are still investigating who instigated the violence that ensued.

During the Thursday incident in Hyde Park, Muhammad was arrested on suspicion of resisting or obstructing an officer. With his head and lip swollen, he held a news conference the next day. His supporters say police beat him without provocation.

Muhammad was attending a vigil for a 21-year-old gunshot victim, Nahum Beaird, in the 6300 block of 10th Avenue. The conflict allegedly began when two officers asked Nation of Islam members to move two parked SUVs that were blocking traffic. It was then that police say the officers were surrounded and assaulted by members of the Nation of Islam and that Muhammad says he was beaten by police.

“Once you see the transcription yourself, it will give you an idea of how gritty, how tense, how dense that situation was,” said Deputy Chief Earl Paysinger. “In the minds of some, they would have you believe that the Police Department attacked members of the Nation of Islam. I’m not so sure that occurred.”

A person speaking Saturday on behalf of Muhammad said the minister would have no comment on the transcript.

At the same time it released the recording, the LAPD attempted to shift attention to what it says is more pressing violence in South Los Angeles.

Police cited a spate of recent crime in the area: the reputed gang killing of Beaird on Wednesday, the dragging of a 58-year-old homeless man underneath a car for more than a mile Friday night, and the attempted murder of two plainclothes police officers early Saturday.

Witnesses said a Ford Mustang ran over the homeless man at 8:50 p.m. at a gas station on South Western Avenue. Caught under the vehicle, the man was dragged on several streets before getting loose. He was in a hospital Saturday and not expected to survive. Police are asking for help finding the driver, whose action they believe was intentional.

The plainclothes officers were in an unmarked car when a man fired into the vehicle in the 5800 block of South Denker Street about 2:20 a.m., the department said. The police returned fire, shooting the gunman in the right arm, authorities said. One of the officers was injured but is expected to recover.

The gunman, 21-year-old Lawrence Garcia, fled but was arrested after police followed a blood trail that led to his house. There, they said, they found a .38-caliber revolver. Ballistics tests will determine whether the revolver was used to shoot the officers, police said. Garcia was recovering in a hospital Saturday.

The Muhammad incident “is disappointing in the way it takes us away from where we are, and our eyes should be on the ball in stopping African American young men from killing African American young men and Hispanic young men from killing Hispanic young men,” said Capt. Kenneth Garner of the 77th Street Division. “There are far too many murders in” South L.A.

Garner and Paysinger talked to reporters at the gas station where the homeless man was run over. It was there that they played the recording and released the transcript.

“There’s a lot on the table, but all I ask is to be fair about [the Muhammad] investigation, and let’s find out what happened before speculation, before conjecture, before condemning,” Garner said.

Earlier in the day, while attending a neighborhood clean-up event outside Jefferson Park Library, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told reporters that it was important for communities to stay calm.

He said he met Friday with Muhammad, with whom the mayor said he had had ties for five years.

“He said to me that he would continue to work to keep the peace,” Villaraigosa said.

The mayor also had a midnight meeting Friday with Police Chief William J. Bratton at the 77th Street station.

“We talked about the incident and the need to look into it,” Villaraigosa said.

The mayor said he planned to spend more time in South L.A. to allay concern and anger over the incident.