Police Harassment Charged in Breakup of Gang Game

Community activists complained Wednesday of police harassment after an incident at a basketball game between rival gangs that led Los Angeles police to call a brief tactical alert in the Watts area.

“Every time young black men come together, law enforcement has trouble with it,” Fred Williams told reporters during a news conference outside the gymnasium at the Jordan Downs housing project where the game was played. “There was no trouble there. But the police broke it up. . . . Their approach was totally wrong.”

Sgt. Charles Beck of the LAPD’s Southeast station said two officers were checking out a disturbance Tuesday night when a man fired a shot at them. Beck said that when the gunman fled into the gymnasium, where about 150 people were watching the game, the two officers followed.

Beck said some spectators objected to the officers’ presence and threw bottles at them. After the officers retreated, police arrived in large numbers, he said.

Witnesses said Tuesday night that 25 squad cars--manned with officers in riot gear--surrounded the gym, breaking up the game.

The tactical alert was canceled after about 20 minutes, Beck said. There were no reports of injuries or arrests.

Williams--who has gained attention for his work with dropouts--called the police version of the incident “a lie.”

“If the officers had actually been shot at, you wouldn’t have had just two officers going inside that gymnasium,” Williams said. “They’d have put out a ‘shots fired’ call, and this whole place would have been surrounded.”

Shawn Brown, who joined Williams at the news conferences, said he was present after police cleared the building “and there was no glass there for anyone to clean up.

Witnesses said the incident began when a police officer who had pulled over a motorist was shot at as he questioned the driver.

As the officer ducked, the motorist drove away, the witnesses said. They said bottles were thrown.

Times staff writer Shawn Hubler contributed to this story.