Violence Follows Shooting Death Of Black By N.J. Police Officer

TEANECK, N.J. - Youths overturned patrol cars, smashed windows and looted stores in a violent protest over the slaying of a black teen-ager by a white police officer. At least five people were injured.

About 1,000 people had rallied peacefully last night, demanding that a special prosecutor investigate the killing of 15-year-old Phillip Pannell.

The boy was shot Tuesday evening after he was questioned at a park by two officers responding to a report of a teen-ager pulling a gun.

Pannell died of a gunshot wound in his back, the Bergen County medical examiner said. Police said Pannell had a gun, but his friends denied it and said the killing was racially motivated.

The violence began last night after a candlelight vigil, when about a dozen police officers in riot gear tried to force people to disperse.

Police pushed the crowd into the police parking lot and some women and children were trampled, witnesses said. Some in the crowd retaliated by smashing windows and doors at the police station. They smashed the windows of three patrol cars and overturned a fourth.

Gangs of youths ran up and down Teaneck Road, adjoining the station, smashing shop windows and looting some stores, including a video-rental shop.

Police wearing riot helmets guarded a liquor store with smashed windows to keep people from entering.

Police said they arrested a 17-year-old youth.

Two police officers and two other people, a woman and a man, were treated for minor injuries and released from a hospital, a nurse said.

Most of the protesters had dispersed by 11 p.m. Teaneck police called in reinforcements from the State Police, Bergen County and at least five surrounding towns.

George Powell, executive director of the Bergen County national Association for the Advancement of Colored People, told demonstrators before the violence broke out that his organization sought the suspension of Gary Spath, the officer who shot Pannell, and would ask Gov. Jim Florio to assign a special prosecutor.

Spath was treated and released from a hospital after going into shock following the shooting. Spath and the other officer at the scene, Wayne Blanco, were placed on sick leave pending an investigation, Acting Bergen County Prosecutor John Holl said.