Problems at King Parade Prompt Warning From Police

The police captain in charge of parade permits called the annual Kingdom Day Parade in Southwest Los Angeles “disorganized” and warned planners that their permit for next year’s event could be denied.

At a Police Commission hearing this week, Capt. Myron Wasson detailed problems he saw in Monday’s parade, which commemorated slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

More than 150 volunteers said they would help with this year’s parade, but only a half-dozen showed up, Wasson said. In addition, about 80 LAPD officers had to be called in to assist with crowd control when rival gang members appeared and several shots were fired, he said.

The commission, which approves all parades, had placed the Kingdom Day Parade on probation during the past two years, officials said.

Wasson said he had outlined a series of guidelines that he wanted the parade organizers to follow, including limiting the duration of the event to three hours and having enough staff members to keep order. Neither guideline was followed, he said.

The parade is sponsored by the National Cultural Foundation, a Carson-based group headed by retired banker Larry Grant. Grant could not be reached for comment, but a fellow organizer of the parade, Celes King III, the state chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality of California, said in a letter to the Police Commission that “the parade has been held with very few injuries . . . and even fewer incidents of malice or horseplay.”