Pubdate: Sun, 21 Oct 2007
Source: Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (Ontario, CA)
Copyright: 2007 Los Angeles Newspaper Group
Contact:  http://www.dailybulletin.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/871
Author: Robert Rogers and Stacia Glenn, Staff Writers

NEIGHBORHOOD ON EDGE

RIALTO - Tensions are running high on the narrow street  where a Rialto 
SWAT officer was killed during a drug  sweep on Thursday.

Gunfire erupted as four officers sought to serve a  search warrant on the 
West Cascade Drive apartment of  of Kris Antonio Wiggins, who neighbors 
know as Jaranard  Thomas or "BeDuke."

According to police, Rialto police Officer Sergio  Carrera Jr. was killed 
Thursday morning as another  officer struggled with Wiggins in his apartment.

On Friday and Saturday, residents said they were  concerned Carrera's death 
will result in more intense  police action in their neighborhood.

"There ain't no relationship with the police that  patrol here to begin 
with," said resident Mel Schaefer.  "Now, it's going to get bad because one 
of theirs got  killed here."

Rialto police Chief Mark Kling said narcotics sales and  violence have 
spiked in the area, but he thinks that  the Police Department is making an 
impact on the  street.

"Actually I think it is improving, (but) the calls for  service are still 
there," he said.

Police have released few details on Wiggins'  altercation with officers, 
but a spokesman for the San  Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said 
Friday that  Wiggins' actions caused Carrera's death.

While law enforcement officials have stopped short of  accusing Wiggins of 
pulling the trigger, Kling stated  firmly in his press conference that 
Carrera was not  shot by another officer.

Cascade Drive residents refuse to believe Wiggins shot  a police officer.

They described Wiggins as a caretaker on West Cascade  Drive, regularly 
barbecuing for everyone on the street  and running off troublemakers who 
linger too close to  his family.

Police raided his home Thursday after a confidential  informant bought rock 
cocaine there, according to court  documents.

Wiggins also is wanted on suspicion of selling cocaine  in Mississippi, 
sheriff's officials said.

Residents and friends of Wiggins grappled to comprehend  the tragedy of 
what had happened two days earlier.

"He's not no ... gangbanger," said Jessie Harris, 39,  of Hesperia. "He'd 
sell meals every Friday and Saturday  and use the money to buy food for 
kids on the street.  We'd lift weights on his back patio."

Charvette McGee, 27, still wondered why cops had  slammed through her 
apartment front door that fateful  day. McGee's home was one of the four 
raided Thursday  morning.

She said she had no drugs or weapons that day, or, any  day, for that 
matter. The police left empty-handed.

"It was weird," said McGee, whose home is across the  street from Wiggins. 
"I said to one of the officers,  'Why are you in my house?' "

The officer replied that an informant had pegged McGee  as a drug dealer, 
she explained.

"I said, 'You're sure you're talking about me?'" McGee said.

McGee said she is a meat cutter at a local market, not  a drug peddler. She 
lives with her three children, ages  8, 4 and 11 months, her brother 22, 
who plays football  at San Bernardino Valley College, and her 
17-year-old  sister.

At first, she was upset that the police had broken down  her door. But when 
an officer mentioned that a Rialto  cop had just died in another raid, "I 
just let them do  their job. I felt badly."

As she reflected for a moment, her head swayed to the  left and right 
slowly. Her lips pursed.

"I just don't understand where their information came  from," she said.

Others were more angry than confused.

Joseph Pruett, a neighbor, wore his security guard  uniform as the 
early-afternoon sun blistered the area.

"I got nothing against cops," he said.

But the officers at the scene acted unprofessionally,  he said. His 
daughter had been snapping photographs  from her bedroom window with his 
new digital camera,  but one officer confiscated it.

"They said it was evidence," Pruett said. "They said I  might be able to 
get it back."

Although neighbors are clearly frustrated with the lack  of answers coming 
from police, they were sobered by the  thought that an officer was killed 
on their block.

On Saturday, there was no memorial on the street for  the slain officer, 
though residents admitted there  would be one if one of their own had been 
killed.

"Look, I feel condolences for the man's family," said  one 33-year-old 
resident who gave only his first name,  Anthony, for fear of retribution 
from police.

"But you've got to understand that when police come out  here, it's always 
just to bust down your door or treat  you with disrespect when you're just 
walking down the  street," Anthony said, his 5-year-old daughter at his  side.

Neighbors say patrol cars already creep up and down  West Cascade, flashing 
spotlights into homes and  harassing anybody outside. Several asserted that 
police  rarely find criminal activity.

"They're in here every day like there's something big  going on," said 
resident Merle Lucas. "There's not."

Many described the area as poor but proper, with  violence and overt gang 
activity rare.

The Rialto Unified School District office is a block  away. Several strip 
malls are within walking distance.

Graffiti is not as pervasive in the alleys and lots  around the street as 
it is in some other parts of the  city.

Yet piles of discarded fast-food bags and papers  clutter the streets and a 
few lawns, and homeless men  root through parking lot trash bins for scraps 
of food  or cast-off treasures.

While some residents acknowledged that drug dealers  make their rounds, 
they said that overall it's a safe  place for kids, some of whom scampered 
around the  street Friday.

Others were not so optimistic.

"There is a lot of drugs," on West Cascade, said one  16-year-old girl. 
"The people who live here aren't very  responsible."

Jason Pesick contributed to this report.
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