Tragedy Strikes Activist Who Organized Vigil

A Watts neighborhood activist who just last week organized a candlelight vigil for slain 82-year-old Viola McClain suffered a loss of his own: His daughter and niece were killed in a highway accident near Barstow, authorities said Sunday.

Jeffrey Coprich and six family members were traveling to a church concert in Las Vegas early Saturday when their Ford Taurus hit a median ditch and flipped over on Interstate 15 about 60 miles northeast of Barstow.

The four-vehicle caravan was taking the Watts Youth in Action choir to Las Vegas to perform in a gospel music workshop. The three other vehicles in the choir’s caravan returned to Los Angeles after the accident.

A California Highway Patrol dispatcher said Coprich, 31, fell asleep at the wheel before the 5 a.m. accident, but an eyewitness traveling behind the family said a blown tire sent the car swerving out of control.

Coprich’s 7-year-old daughter, Essence, and 2-year-old niece, Dejuanhe Williams, were thrown from the car and killed. Coprich also was thrown from the car. He suffered minor injuries, as did his father, Joseph, and son, Jeffrey Jr. They were treated at area hospitals and released.

Coprich’s wife and mother were in satisfactory condition at San Bernardino County Hospital after surgery for critical injuries. Coprich was visiting them Sunday and could not be reached.

Coprich, who grew up in the Watts neighborhood where kids and adults alike knew Viola McClain simply as “Mother McClain,” was one of McClain’s godchildren, friends said.

“They spent a lot of time together,” said Anthony D. Davis, a close friend who was in the car behind Coprich’s when the accident occurred. Coprich lived nearby and “he ate meals at her house.”

Last Wednesday, Coprich and Davis organized a nighttime vigil for McClain, who was fatally shot July 26 on her porch by alleged gang members who were quarreling with her grandson.

Reginald Barner, 20, and five minors have been arrested in connection with McClain’s death and with an alleged rape next door to McClain’s home.

Wednesday’s vigil attracted more than 60 people to McClain’s home on East 111th Street. They marched to McClain’s church and called for an end to such violence.

Coprich “was so helpful--right there doing everything,” recalled John Murphy, McClain’s son-in-law. “I was very impressed.”

Coprich is a well-known youth organizer in Watts. He heads the group Watts Youth In Action and was taking the organization’s 36-member choir to perform at a gospel music workshop in Las Vegas when the accident occurred.

Friends of the Coprich family spent Sunday trying to make sense of the accident.

“When you go about God’s business and work to save souls, the devil will challenge what you stand on,” Davis said. “Although I don’t know what God has planned with all of this, I can say this much: God will use this situation to benefit the community.”