4 Held After Police Break Up a Wake in Southeast L.A.

Four people were arrested and several were injured Saturday night after police broke up a wake in southeast Los Angeles.

Two were arrested at the gathering on 106th Street near Avalon Boulevard on suspicion of weapons violations. Two more were arrested during a confrontation at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Southeast Division station, where an estimated 30 wake guests gathered to protest officers’ actions.

The trouble started when officers decided to break up the gathering because the crowd had grown large and guests were drinking in the street. Police had been monitoring the wake because they believed gang members were in attendance, said Lt. Dave Hanczuk.

At the house, police recovered four handguns, Hanczuk said.

Witnesses said 150 to 200 people were at the wake, held in honor of a man who had died of cancer. Several said that officers dressed in riot gear approached the guests outside the home with guns drawn.

They accused officers of forcing one man’s head through a car window. “They came ready to attack,” said Lavette McCrary, a wake guest.

“The policeman threw the guy’s face through the window,” said Makeshia Johnson, 16, another guest.

Hanczuk offered a different account. He said an officer broke the car window with his flashlight as he was struggling to control the man, one of those arrested. He said the man was not injured.

After the group dispersed, about 30 people walked a few blocks to the police station and began angrily complaining in the lobby about officers’ conduct at the wake. Officers were called to the station and forcibly broke up the crowd with pepper spray, witnesses said.

Several people were injured during the disturbance at the station. At least two were taken to hospitals and several others complained of eye irritation from pepper spray, witnesses said.

One person was arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer, the other for allegedly resisting an officer. At least two complaints were filed about officers’ conduct at the house and the police station. The incident remains under investigation.