LOMAX, EX-HEAD OF POLICE COMMISSION, DIES AFTER CAR CRASH.Byline: BETH BARRETT Staff Writer Melanie Lomax Melanie E. Lomax (April 12, 1950 – September 10, 2006), was a civil rights lawyer and former head of the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners. Lomax was the daughter of Lucius Lomax, an attorney, and Almena Davis Lomax, a civil rights activist and publisher of the , a passionate civil rights attorney who chaired the Police Commission in the turbulent period after the Rodney King beating, died after her car plunged off a steep slope near her home, police said Monday. Lomax, 56, was backing her 2005 Jaguar S-Type car out her driveway onto Outpost Drive about 7:45 p.m. Sunday, when it plummeted down an adjacent embankment and overturned, coming to rest upside down. Los Angeles police Lt. Paul Vernon said Lomax was found unconscious and suspended in her seat belt in full cardiac arrest cardiac arrest n. Abbr. CA A sudden cessation of cardiac function, resulting in loss of effective circulation. Cardiac arrest A condition in which the heart stops functioning. . She was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a world-renowned hospital located in Los Angeles, California. History Cedars-Sinai is the result of a merger in 1961 between two major Los Angeles hospitals, Cedars of Lebanon and Mount Sinai Home for the Incurables, with Steve Broidy as and pronounced dead at 8:37 p.m. A memorial service was pending. Lomax was born in Los Angeles on April 12, 1950, and attended Los Angeles High School Los Angeles High School, founded in 1873, is the oldest public high school in the Southern California Region and in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Its colors are blue and white and the teams are called the Romans. . She graduated in 1971 from the University of California at Berkeley (body, education) University of California at Berkeley - (UCB) See also Berzerkley, BSD. http://berkeley.edu/. Note to British and Commonwealth readers: that's /berk'lee/, not /bark'lee/ as in British Received Pronunciation. with a degree in political science and in 1974 from Loyola Law School Loyola Law School is the law school of Loyola Marymount University, a private Jesuit school in Los Angeles, California. Loyola was established in 1920. Like Loyola University Chicago School of Law and Loyola University New Orleans College of Law (separate and unaffiliated . Stunned city leaders on Monday recalled her pivotal role in the administration of former Mayor Tom Bradley, including her battle to fire LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. Chief Daryl Gates in the wake of the King beating in 1991 by four white police officers. But she was also lauded for her tenacious commitment to secure the rights of minority residents. ``Her legacy will be that she strongly supported policies motivating the Police Commission to be more sensitive to the minority community and to embrace it with the same vigor that it embraced the majority community,'' said Bill Elkins, a special assistant to the late mayor who is now president of the Bradley Legacy Foundation at UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX . City Councilman Bernard Parks, whom Lomax backed in his failed bid to remain LAPD's chief, said the daughter of an influential newspaper and civil-rights family, and the former president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), organization composed mainly of American blacks, but with many white members, whose goal is the end of racial discrimination and segregation. in Los Angeles, will have ``a very interesting legacy'' in L.A. ``She was very forthright, very strong in her beliefs, and outspoken,'' Parks said. ``She never swayed whether you agreed with her or not. She spoke her mind.'' Civil-rights attorney Connie Rice -- who represented Lomax in a failed bid by Bradley to appoint her to the Board of Water and Power Commissioners in 1992 -- called the struggle between Gates and Lomax a ``clash of the titans.'' ``She was out to change an institution and (Gates) was there to protect his staff.'' Former Police Commissioner Stanley Sheinbaum, who worked with Lomax to remove Gates, called her a ``reliable, strong partner'' who was ``very helpful in creating the right pressure.'' Ramona Ripston, ACLU ACLU: see American Civil Liberties Union. of Southern California executive director, said Lomax opposed Gates and police policies she believed were unfairly singling out African-Americans, along with other civil-rights issues. ``I admired her stamina,'' Ripston said. ``She was quite confrontational in the interest of getting justice. '' Assemblyman Mark Ridley-Thomas, D-Los Angeles, said Lomax continued in private practice to battle for individuals' civil rights. ``Many people relied on her when they needed someone to fight, not just to mediate.'' ``I think the news of her death has struck a very, very sad note in the hearts of many people across the region,'' Ridley-Thomas said. beth.barrett(at)dailynews.com (818) 713-3731 CAPTION(S): photo Photo: LOMAX |
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