Muslim Slain in Clash With L.A. Deputies

A member of the Nation of Islam was shot to death by a sheriff’s deputy in the Athens district south of Los Angeles early Tuesday after a traffic stop erupted into a melee between deputies and several members of the religious organization, authorities and witnesses said.

Another man was wounded in the fracas, which resulted in the arrests of five Muslims and a 15-year-old youth for investigation of attempted murder.

Authorities said the shooting death of Oliver Beasley, 27, of Los Angeles, came after Nation of Islam members began fighting with two deputies, and one took a deputy’s pistol.

The violent encounter was the second this month between Muslims and law officers, and it heightened tensions that only Monday had been the subject of an extraordinary meeting between Los Angeles police officials and Nation of Islam leaders.

Tuesday’s fatal shooting was followed hours later and a block away by a second, less violent confrontation between deputies and area residents, who became agitated when two black motorists and a bystander were searched after a car was stopped for a minor infraction.

No one was arrested after what amounted to a 30-minute standoff between 100 residents and at least 10 deputies.

The incidents brought demands from community leaders in South Los Angeles for a resolution of differences between law enforcement officers and members of the Nation of Islam, a religious organization that for more than 50 years has taken a message of self-sufficiency and self-respect to African-Americans.

Danny J. Bakewell, executive director of the Brotherhood Crusade, called for a halt to the “senseless killing” of black men.

“Every black male walking down the street is in jeopardy,” Bakewell said. “We have people being killed, and they have no weapons.”

With regard to the fatal shooting, Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said Tuesday that “the entire incident” was under investigation. Lt. Frank Merriman, who is in charge of the investigation, said the incident began at 12:40 a.m. when a motorist, later identified as David Hartley, 18, pulled up behind a sheriff’s patrol car, then sped past.

Sheriff’s officials declined to identify the officers involved in the incident by name, but acknowledged that one was a deputy trainee.

Other sources within the department told The Times that one of the officers was Deputy William Tackaberry, a training officer.

Signaled to Stop

According to Merriman, Hartley drove on for about half a block after the two deputies signaled him to pull over, then stopped in the 1100 block of 106th Street in front of 20-unit apartment house managed by members of the Nation of Islam.

Sheriff’s spokesman Fidel Gonzales said the two deputies ordered Hartley to leave his car and walk toward them. Then the deputies got out of their patrol car.

As Hartley approached, Gonzales said, the deputies saw several men come out of the nearby apartment building and move toward them.

“The deputies ordered them back to the building,” Gonzales said. “They refused to cooperate. At the same time, the driver of the vehicle became uncooperative and, finally, became combative with one deputy.”

While that officer--the trainee deputy--struggled with the driver, both he and his partner were also engaged by several of the Muslims and, officials said, the trainee lost his gun to one of the assailants.

At this point, the trainee deputy pulled a second handgun and fired four shots, striking Hartley in the shoulder, Merriman said. The trainee then fired one round into Beasley who, the lieutenant said, was still struggling with the trainee’s partner for his weapon.

Beasley was struck in the upper torso and was pronounced dead at the scene. Hartley was treated for his shoulder wound at Martin Luther King Jr.-Drew Medical Center and transferred to the jail ward at County-USC Medical Center.

Gonzales said the trainee deputy’s missing 9-millimeter Beretta pistol was later found on the steps of the nearby apartment house.

It was the only weapon found at the scene, according to Merriman.

Deputies arrested two suspects immediately and took three others into custody shortly before 5:30 a.m.

A sheriff’s Special Weapons and Tactics team was called to the apartment house, where the others surrendered.

Authorities said those arrested were Dean Milligan, 26, Anthony Perkins, 19, and Henry Johnson, 35, all of Los Angeles; an 18-year-old man who declined to identify himself, and an unidentified 15-year-old.

Eyewitnesses complained that they saw deputies beating those who had been arrested after they were in custody.

Gonzales replied: “At this point, we have no case of abuse. But the case is under investigation.”

A 27-year-old man, who was riding his bicycle home from work, said he saw deputies shouting at a wounded man, who was forced to stand against the wall of an apartment building’s carport.

“The sheriff deputies tried to get him to spread on the ground,” the man said. “They kicked him down to the ground and then they started stomping him.”

Another witness reported hearing shouts from men being beaten in the street.

“Out of my window I saw them beating a boy as they pushed him up the street,” said Taneesha Jackson, 16, who lives nearby. She said the man was pleading with deputies to “Stop it! Stop hitting me! I didn’t do anything!”

Members of the Nation of Islam said they tape-recorded witnesses’ accounts and photographed the scene.

“This is like being in South Africa,” said Alfred 3X, a Muslim who photographed bullet holes in the stucco walls and security fences of the apartment building.

A second traffic incident later Tuesday morning, about a block from the shooting scene, exacerbated tension in the neighborhood.

In the 9:30 a.m. incident, which was witnessed by a reporter, a crowd surrounded a car as the driver, Andre Ransom, and a passenger, Melzale Brooka, were searched by sheriff’s deputies.

Sheriff’s officials said Ransom was cited for obstructing the vision through the rear window of his car, because it had “only the strong survive” scrawled across the bottom. He was also cited for driving without proof of insurance.

Ransom told a reporter that he handed deputies a court document showing that he had been given an extension to secure his insurance. He said the document was not returned to him Tuesday, and he later found it torn and crumpled in a nearby alley.

Harold Haywood, a bystander who was questioning the deputies stopping of Ransom, was also ordered to lean over the trunk of Ransom’s car and submit to a search.

As the crowd looked on, Haywood shook with anger and chastised deputies for what he called “harassment.” He urged the crowd to “stand up like men.”

Muslims Calm Man

“I’m supposed to be an American citizen--I get treated like a . . . dog!” Haywood screamed. “You people in the community, you watch this. Don’t let them treat us like this anymore.”

The crowd applauded Haywood’s remarks.

After several minutes, deputies allowed Muslims, wearing suits, white shirts and bow ties, to calm Haywood and lead him away as the crowd dispersed.

Haywood was not cited.

Bakewell said the black community would be “coming together” this morning at a rally at the Brotherhood Crusade offices in South-Central Los Angeles. It was at those offices that Nation of Islam leaders and representatives of the Los Angeles Police Department had met Monday seeking to calm tensions.

The two-hour meeting grew indirectly from a violent clash between 13 Muslims and 24 police officers on Jan. 3 in a parking lot at Crenshaw Boulevard and Vernon Avenue in Southwest Los Angeles.

A routine stop of a car driven by a Muslim turned into a fist-swinging melee. Four officers were treated for injuries, ranging from a broken arm to a cut lip. Three Muslims were treated at County-USC Medical Center.

Two Muslims were subsequently booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.

After Tuesday’s shooting, Deputy Los Angeles Police Chief William Rathburn, who represented the department at the Monday meeting, said the incident “really points out the importance of communication.”

In recent months, members of the Nation of Islam have stepped up recruitment efforts in Los Angeles and other cities, and in the process have become a far more visible community force.

Residents said that after members of the Nation of Islam moved into the apartment house on West 106th Street last summer, they painted over graffiti, picked up trash and befriended gang members with the message that turf wars and drug abuse are self-destructive.

“They got together with these little ones who have been doing the gang-banging, and it’s been a lot quieter, “ said Ruthie Collins, who lives nearby.

The Nation of Islam began in Detroit in the 1930s, after Wallace Fard Muhammad, a door-to-door rug salesman, took Elijah Poole under his wing. Poole later became Elijah Muhammad and moved his headquarters to Chicago.

Muhammad initially was branded a fanatic because of his views of the superiority of black people and his doctrine of racial separation.

After he died in 1975, his son, then called Wallace, took over. He later split from the main body and formed his own organization. It was then that the fiery and sometimes controversial Louis Farrakhan became leader of the group.

Membership figures are a closely guarded secret, but observers have estimated that Farrakhan has 250,000 followers nationwide. In the Los Angeles area, estimates are that about 5,000 people consider themselves followers.

Times staff writers Andrea Ford, Daryl Kelley, John Kendall and Victor Merina also contributed to this story.