Posted on 04/22/2006 10:17:51 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SAN LUIS OBISBO, Calif. - Former Los Angeles police chief and state Sen. Ed Davis, whose tough rhetoric during the turbulent 1970s made him popular with conservatives, died Saturday, a family spokesman said. He was 89.
Davis died of complications from pneumonia at a hospital in San Luis Obispo, family spokesman Rob Wilcox said. He had been hospitalized since April 12, and his situation worsened Friday night, Wilcox said.
In more than 50 years in public service, Davis rose through the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department from street cop to chief from 1969 to 1978.
Known for his controversial statements, in 1972 Davis suggested reinstating the death penalty in California to punish airline hijackers.
"I recommend we have a portable gallows, and after we have the death penalty back in, we conduct a rapid trial for a hijacker out there and hang him with due process out there at the airport," Davis said.
The proposal earned him the nickname "Hang 'Em High Ed."
Still, other critics called him "Crazy Ed," and the chief became so incensed by news coverage he considered unfair that he once publicly canceled his subscription to the Los Angeles Times.
Under Davis' watch, police officers engaged in a fiery, televised gun battle with members of the Symbionese Liberation Army in 1974 after the group had kidnapped heiress Patricia Hearst and gone on a violent rampage across the state. A handful of the group's members, who were cornered in a house by police, died in the gun battle, during which the house caught fire.
Davis was popular with many Los Angeles residents, and under his watch crime in the nation's second-largest city decreased by 1 percent, while it rose elsewhere. He was also credited with creating the Police Department's Neighborhood Watch program.
The Republican resigned in 1978 to pursue a political career, and was elected in 1980 to his first of three terms in the California Senate. He also made unsuccessful bids for governor and U.S. senator.
He retired from politics in 1992, and the same year the Los Angeles' Rodney King riots turned him into a vocal critic of his former police department.
He called on his successor, Daryl Gates, to resign and later recommended that future police chiefs be limited to two five-year terms. The recommendation was subsequently adopted.
Davis was survived by his wife, Bobbie Trueblood; his children, Michael Davis, Christine Coey and Mary Ellen Burde; and four stepchildren.
Los Angeles Police Chief Ed Davis is shown in this 1975 file photo. A family spokesman says former Los Angeles police chief and state senator Ed Davis has died of complications from pneumonia at 89. Davis died of complications from pneumonia Saturday night at a hospital in San Luis Obispo, Calif., said family spokesman Rob Wilcox. (AP Photo/FILES)
/sarcasm off
A cop's, cop. RIP.
A neighbor too.
RIP Mr. Davis.
Tonight I'm going to say up late and watch "Dragnet" on DVD.
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