High meth levels cited in victim

Jace Radke

Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2002 | 9:07 a.m.

The amount of methamphetamine in John Perrin's blood the night he was shot and killed by a Metro Police officer was enough to kill a person, an expert toxicologist testified Monday during a $25 million civil rights trial.

Dr. Naresh Jain, a toxicology and pharmacology professor at the University of Southern California and the former chief of toxicology for Los Angeles County, said that Perrin, 32, had 2,617 nanograms of methamphetamine per milliliter of blood in his body when he was killed on April 12, 1999.

That is more than 20 times the amount someone would have in his blood if methamphetamine were prescribed by a doctor, Jain told a jury charged with determining if Metro Police Officer Bruce Gentner was right in shooting Perrin.

"If this would have been a first-time user he would have died from that amount," Jain said. "The level of methamphetamine in (Perrin's) body was extremely, extremely high. Numerous deaths have been reported with that amount of methamphetamine in the system."

Brent Bryson, who represents Perrin's mother, Connie Perrin, in the suit brought against Metro Police, objected to allowing Jain's testimony in, saying that the testimony was more prejudicial then probative.

"It's nothing more than an attempt to drive home to the jury that Mr. Perrin was on methamphetamine," Bryson said.

U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt allowed the testimony, saying that Jain may have something new to add. Other witnesses for Metro, including Dr. Richard Mason, a forensic pathologist with the Santa Cruz County, Calif., coroner's office, testified that methamphetamine use results in erratic behavior.

Among the behaviors Mason and Jain attributed to methamphetamine use were paranoia, aggression, unresponsiveness, agitation and delusion.

"I don't know Mr. Perrin, but as a toxicologist and pharmacologist I know what drugs do to the human body," Jain said. "It's more probable than not some of these symptoms manifested themselves (in Perrin's behavior)."

According to police, Perrin did not obey commands to move to the front of Gentner's patrol car, or to show his hands, after he was stopped for jaywalking and an alleged drug transaction. Gentner said Perrin turned toward him and began pulling something from his waistband.

Gentner said he thought the object was a gun. Perrin didn't have a gun, but police say he was carrying a small jar containing iodine crystals, a chemical used to manufacture methamphetamine.

Gentner fired a total of 14 shots, with six bullets striking Perrin.

Attorneys for Metro are expected to finish their case today with a police procedures expert.