OFFICIALS REVIEWING INMATE'S DEATH.

Byline: Douglas Haberman Daily News Staff Writer

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department homicide detectives are investigating the death of an inmate who collapsed during a struggle in the downtown Twin Towers jail, officials said Wednesday.

A number of inmates who said they witnessed the incident accused jail personnel of beating and choking Danny Smith, 34, who died Saturday after struggling with jail staffers.

The Congress of Racial Equality also is investigating the death, said Sandra Moore, an adviser to the civil rights group. ``What we want are answers,'' she said.

An autopsy could take place as soon as today, said Scott Carrier, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office.

Smith, a Los Angeles resident, died at Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center after cardiopulmonary resuscitation efforts at the jail failed, sheriff's officials said.

``We're really closely interested in what the cause of death may have been,'' said sheriff's Sgt. Jerry Kaono, one of two lead investigators in the case.

He said the event occurred around 6:50 p.m. when Smith, who had caused a disruption and made threats to inmates and deputies, was being moved into a two-person cell in the mental-housing area for the safety of himself and others.

Smith, who was roughly 6 feet tall and 285 pounds, resisted entering the cell located at the top of a stairway, sheriff's officials said.

He threatened the two deputies and a third employee who were escorting him, Kaono said. Because of the threats, they didn't remove the handcuffs that restrained his hands behind his back.

Still, ``they were very accommodating in trying to calm him down,'' Kaono said.

He said that although the details are unclear, Smith and jail personnel ended up struggling on the concrete floor. Smith began bleeding slightly from a cut to his head and was trying to bite the staffers and spit at them, Kaono said.

After Smith collapsed, medical personnel tried unsuccessfully to revive him. He was taken to the hospital, where he died.

But in a series of telephone interviews, inmates in the same area of the jail told a different story.

They said Smith, an African-American inmate, refused to enter the cell because he didn't want to be with a Latino inmate who was already inside.

Several of the inmates said a deputy, using his knee, applied pressure to the back of Smith's knees and pushed him face down on the floor.

``From there, they stomped on him,'' said inmate William Green, 24, of South Central Los Angeles.

Inmates claimed that while Smith was prone, a deputy sat on him, put a large flashlight under his neck and pulled on both ends of the flashlight, choking him.

``He was gasping for air,'' said inmate Ernest Kovack, 48, of La Puente.

Several times Smith yelled, I give, I give, said inmate Daron Corneto, 30, of Bellflower.

A sergeant who came to the scene did nothing to halt the beating and choking, inmates said. Then the altercation did stop. ``All of a sudden he became silent,'' said Roy DeShon, 49, of Los Angeles.

Most of the inmates claimed they witnessed at least portions of the incident from one flight below the cell where it occurred. Some admitted they couldn't see much once the men were on the floor inside the cell but said they still could hear Smith.

Kaono said the layout of the jail makes it difficult to witness what occurred inside the cell.

``You literally can't see it,'' he said. But he himself didn't speak with all the inmates being interviewed as part of the investigation, he said.