TYISHA MILLER HAD DRUG IN HER SYSTEM, LAWYER SAYS

RIVERSIDE--Newly released toxicology findings indicate that Tyisha
Miller was under the influence of GHB, an illegal drug that can induce
semiconsciousness and vomiting--the type of symptoms she was said to
be exhibiting before she was shot and killed by four Riverside police
officers in December 1998.

Miller, 19, was slain by officers who said they found her unresponsive
in her parked vehicle with a gun in her lap. The officers said she
seemed in need of immediate medical attention, so they broke the car's
window to try to retrieve the weapon. They shot her in self-defense,
they said, when she reached for the gun.

The shooting unleashed a barrage of criticism against the officers,
who were not criminally prosecuted but were eventually fired for
having acted too hastily. The shooting took on racial overtones
because Miller was black, and the four officers were white.

The privately conducted drug report was released Tuesday by attorney
Skip Miller, who is representing the city of Riverside and two of the
officers sued by Miller's family. He said the findings justify the
officers' swift actions.

"It corroborates the officers' observations that she was in dire
medical straits as a result of a drug overdose and that she had to be
rescued," Miller said.

Andrew Roth, an attorney representing the Miller family, said he was
angered by the "mean-spirited and insensitive" disclosure of the drug
report, which he hadn't yet seen, and said that assuming it was
accurate, "it would only help to prove she was unconscious and
stuporous at the time she was shot."

"It can't be used to defend the conduct of the police," he said. "It
only supports the concept that she was not a threat, because it would
have made her passive and nonresistant. If they think this supports
their theory that the officers had to shoot her 12 times in order to
save her life, so be it."

The Riverside County coroner's office conducted routine toxicology
tests after the shooting, which did not screen for such drugs as GHB.
Miller said the city hired a firm, Chemical Toxicology Institute of
Foster City, based on rumors that the shooting victim was under the
influence of the drug. The county coroner previously determined that
Tyisha Miller had been drinking alcohol before her death.

GHB (gamma hydroxybutyric acid), sometimes called "liquid ecstasy," is
illegal to manufacture or possess in this country. It initially
surfaced among bodybuilders as a steroid alternative and has become
increasingly popular as a recreational drug, especially at raves,
because of its intoxicating effects, according to the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration.

GHB also is considered a "date-rape drug" because it is odorless and
nearly tasteless, can be easily added to a beverage, and causes a
person to lose consciousness.

According to the FDA, the drug depresses the central nervous system,
can slow or stop breathing and induce vomiting, dizziness, tremors and
seizures. Consumption of alcohol can accelerate the effects of GHB, it
said.

On the night of the shooting, Miller's car had a flat tire and she
parked at a Riverside gas station, where a companion called her family
for assistance and then left the scene. Arriving family members found
her seemingly unconscious in her locked car and called 911 for help,
warning that Miller had a gun in her lap.

Witnesses said Miller seemed to have a foamy substance around her
mouth. The officers said they were unable to awaken her, despite
banging on her car. Before a supervisor could reach the scene, the
officers acted.

Riverside County Dist. Atty. Grover Trask later criticized the
officers for making a "mistake in their judgment."

State Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer said their actions were "unwise and
ill-conceived."

The officers said they acted swiftly in trying to remove the gun so
paramedics could treat her.

One of the officers, his attorney has said, had recently witnessed a
drug-overdose death and believed that Miller was showing similar symptoms.

On Tuesday, Miller said that because the teenager was under the
influence of GHB, which is a hallucinogen at higher doses, "it would
explain her paranoid and confused response, her totally unanticipated
behavior, in bolting for the gun."

The officers are fighting their dismissals from the Police Department.