Ray Vitte

In February 1983, police were called to Vitte's home in Studio City by neighbors claiming that a man had been making "religious shoutings laced with references to Muhammad" for more than 12 hours".^[2] Vitte allegedly lunged at one of the officers who subsequently struck him with a baton. Vitte attempted to run away, but was struck again by officers who also used tear gas with no effect.^[3] After Vitte ran away again, he fell down at the side of a swimming pool where officers handcuffed him and placed him into a squad car. En route to a hospital for a mental evaluation, the officers noticed Vitte had stopped breathing. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.^[2]

A group including singer Donna Summer and the president of the Beverly Hills-Hollywood chapter of the NAACP protested Vitte's death in a news conference,^[4] with Summer saying "...a man who's basically minding his own business in his own home, who happens to be creating a disturbance somehow, is now dead because his neighbors called the police".

A spokesman for the coroner's office said preliminary results of an autopsy showed "superficial injuries consistent with a struggle" but which were "not responsible for his death".^[4] According to the coroner's report, Vitte died of complications from sickle cell disease.^[5]