Foreman of Jury Was Holdout Against Acquittal of Penn : In Aftermath, Police, Civilians Watch, Wait

The streets of downtown and Southeast San Diego were quiet the night Sagon Penn left jail--even for a Thursday. A modest crowd was hanging on the corner outside Mullen’s Market & Liquor, and several of the usual drug niches were deserted.

But as police handled routine calls, many were shaken by the outcome of an explosive case that, for many in the black community, raised questions about the way officers approach civilians.

“It’s sad,” said one officer Thursday after responding to a mugging near Superfast Photo and Video. “I knew Tommy Riggs, and everyone looked up to Donovan Jacobs as a guy who was always trying to do the right thing and helping out the other officers.”

“Are they going to change the name the city after tonight?” another asked bitterly. “Instead of America’s Finest City, will it be The City Where You Can Kill a Cop and Get Away With It?”

Some officers have been disheartened in the months since the March 31, 1985, incident that left one officer dead, another wounded and a city racked by a racially charged trial. They have found some street people conspiratorially silent, stiff, combative, invoking Penn’s name as a threat.

But on Thursday, his name hardly came up between police and Southeast’s blacks. A white officer talking to blacks on a street corner heard casual banter or silence.

“They’re just as scared as we are,” one officer said. “Things are quiet out there. They’re afraid a bad police officer might come out here and punish them. I could see that.”

Ali Hassan, community relations officer for the Southeast area, toured the neighborhood and found “business as usual.” Any expectations of a police backlash or civilian belligerence did not materialize. “The community as well as the police were reserved in letting the courts do their job,” he said. “The Southeast community is not a community that feels happy because we have a person whose life was lost.”

Police Chief Bill Kolender reassured his force in a two-minute video tape that was shown to officers Thursday and Friday. This is about his 30th video on major police issues since he took over as chief in 1975. “For those of us who knew Tom Riggs and know Donovan Jacobs, the decisions of the jury are tough to swallow,” he said. “The jury obviously bought the defense attorney’s presentation of what happened that evening in Encanto. I am frustrated and angered by the verdict for a lot of reasons. I don’t believe that our side of the incident was accurately portrayed to either the jury or the citizens.

“So where do we go from here? First, I do not view this verdict as creating open season on police officers. I expect you to continue doing your job in the same professional manner that you always have, and I will continue to support your efforts.

“Secondly, I’ve received a lot of feedback from my sources in the minority community, and my information is verified by feedback from our officers on the street. In spite of efforts to paint a different picture, relationships between the citizens and the San Diego Police Department have never been better. The communities of San Diego do support us, and that includes the black community.”

Hundreds of phone calls poured into the police headquarters and neighborhood stations Thursday and Friday, with calls supporting the department outnumbering the negative ones by about 10 to 1, police said. “The majority are outraged at the justice system, and they are commiserating with this department and the families of Officers Riggs and Jacobs,” said police spokesman Bill Robinson. “One person called this morning and said he was leaving the city because with the Tyberg decision and the Penn decision coming back to back--it was unexplainable.” (On June 21, a state appellate court overturned the verdict against Charles Tyberg, 20, who had been convicted of first-degree-murder in the slaying of a San Diego police officer.)

Robinson also said a San Diego Union cartoon in which blind justice tries to explain the trial results at Riggs’ gravestone had been widely circulated. “The cartoon has worked its way through the department, and it does issue a strong statement that officers can relate to,” Robinson said.

A common response among officers Thursday night was to block out the Penn affair and cling to signs of routine. Officer Teddie Weston grew up in Logan Heights and Southeast . He looked at pictures of a colleague’s newborn identical twins before heading out to Southeast Thursday night and joked about the sergeants exam to another.

Weston, who is black, said he preferred not to discuss the Penn case. “I have mixed emotions about it, and I’d rather not talk about it,” he said. He patrolled using the same approach he has used for seven years with the force. “Normally I want to find out what’s going on in a low-key manner--just straight talking, nothing fancy. I’ll show them right off the bat I’m not here to jump them.

“It’s really easy to get out here, (make people angry), fight, handcuff them and take them to jail,” Weston said as he sat in a fast-food restaurant writing up a report on a domestic quarrel.

Calming a hostile person is more challenging. “I prefer it that way if I can,” he said. “The next time something goes down in my area, it may be that person who has some information that’s useful. It’s happened a lot to me. But you can’t walk into every call being polite with people. On some calls you have to be the authority and take it under control right away. If people get crazy with me, I can get crazy with them.”

Back in the police offices, administrators said that grief would not evolve into open hostility. “Our cops’ mood is somber,” said Bob Burgreen, assistant chief on Friday. “There is a sense of loss, and they feel let down and yet they accept the criminal justice system. I think the public and the minority community are reflecting on this.

“I don’t see people gloating over it or taunting police. It’s just not happening.”

Other observers saw a desire to move on. “Since the verdict, I’ve talked to a number of people, both police and community people,” said Murray Galinson, chairman of the Citizens Advisory Committee on Police Community Relations. “They are accepting of what happened. Some of the police officers may not think it’s the just decision, but they’re all saying it’s still the best system we could have, even if it’s not perfect.”

Weston said letting gang members ride along sometimes helps him gauge the right approach to a situation on the street. But, he said, police face a common dilemma: People want strict enforcement, but as soon as the heat is turned on them or an acquaintance, they cry police overreaction. He moves from call to call, making the snap judgments of whether to be aggressive or accommodating. “You’ve got to study a person, listen to what he says and then decide,” he said.

But police said they wonder what responses will be in the coming months.

“Human nature’s something else,” Weston said. “You take it in stride.”