A judge Tuesday approved a court order meant to cripple two Harbor Gateway gangs, severely limiting the members from walking, driving or even standing with one another.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Yaffe's approval of a preliminary injunction, which occurred the same day a young boy was shot in an apparently gang-related attack, creates a so-called safety zone and gives police officers the authority to enforce a variety of tough restrictions on the members of the 204th Street and East Side Torrance gangs. Although police could not say that East Side Torrance was involved in Tuesday's shooting, they are investigating the possibility because the victim and his family strayed into the gang's turf. Police and prosecutors have been waiting for the ruling since December, when they filed the gang injunction and served papers on more than 40gang members.
Members of 204th Street hired an attorney to fight the order, but East Side Torrance members did not. "(The judge) said there was enough for the preliminary injunction. It's an ongoing threat and it needs to be stopped," said Deputy City Attorney Anne Tremblay, assistant supervisor of her office's gang division. The "safety zone" established by the injunction is bounded by Del Amo Boulevard to the north, Western Avenue on the west, Lomita Boulevard on the south and Normandie Avenue on the east. It extends 100 yards to the outside of each
boundary and takes in the locations where 14-year-old Cheryl Green was killed in December 2006, and a 6-year-old boy was wounded Tuesday.
According to the order, 204th Street and East Side Torrance members can no longer associate with one another. That includes "standing, sitting, walking, driving, gathering or appearing anywhere in public view, in a public place or in any place accessible to the public." The only exemptions are in a school or church.
In addition, police can arrest gang members who confront, intimidate, annoy, harass, threaten, challenge, provoke, assault or batter anyone who lives, works or passes through the safety zone.
Gang members also cannot: Possess any firearm, ammunition or other dangerous weapon.
Sell, traffic or possess any controlled substance or marijuana, and any drug paraphernalia, including pipes and rolling papers.
Act as lookouts by "whistling, yelling or otherwise signalling" with hand signals, walkie talkies or cellular telephones to warn others that police are nearby.
Obstruct traffic, drink in public, carry graffiti tools, loiter, trespass or violate curfew. The injunction specifically identifies more than 40 East Side Torrance and 204th Street gang members by name, but is not limited to them.
LAPD Harbor Division officers must again serve gang members with the order before they can begin enforcing it, Tremblay said. Capt. William Hayes, the Harbor Division's commander, said he had not been informed about the judge's decision and was awaiting word from the City Attorney's Office on what action to take next.
Police and prosecutors pushed for the injunction following Green's killing. Her suspected killers are 204th Street gang members who allegedly shot her because she is black. Officers took a year to gather evidence against gang members to support the injunction and write a document before submitting it to a judge.
Attorney Ronald Mintz, who represents 204th Street in its opposition, said the police evidence against his clients is based on hearsay, rumor and innuendo.
"The judge didn't really care what I had to say," Mintz said.
A court hearing will be scheduled for prosecutors to seek a permanent injunction similar to those imposed in recent years in Harbor City, Redondo Beach and Lennox.
Mintz said his clients believe the injunction against the gang members violates their individual rights. Prosecutors, Mintz said, sued a "fictitious entity" that does not drink beer in public or smoke marijuana. Its members, he said, cannot be treated as a unit, and are legally no different than the Boy Scouts of America.
"A Boy Scout may go out and shoot somebody," Mintz said. "That doesn't make all the members guilty."
East Side Torrance formed in the 1970s, getting its name from its location. Although the area it calls home has a Torrance mailing address, it is east of the city's boundary in the Harbor Gateway area of Los Angeles.
Its territory is bounded by Western, Sepulveda Boulevard, Normandie and Carson Street, according to an affidavit filed by Los Angeles police Detective Dan Robbins in support of the gang injunction. East Side Torrance feuded with Torrance's La Rana gang, which helped create the 204thStreet gang in the 1980s. East Side Torrance's rivals include 204th Street to the north, Harbor City Boys and Harbor City Crips to the south, and Tortilla Flats in the unincorporated area to the east. "When one gang tries to move into another's turf, deadly gang wars are often the result," Robbins wrote
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