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| Ezell Ford: Los Angeles officer violated policy in death of mentally ill black man | Ezell Ford: Los Angeles officer violated policy in death of mentally ill black man |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A civilian review body charged with examining the police killing of an unarmed, mentally ill young black man in Los Angeles has found that one of the officers violated police department policy – a decision that opens the way to disciplinary proceedings and possible criminal prosecution. | |
| The decision, which followed hours of emotional public hearings and closed-door deliberations, was met with relief and some confusion on Tuesday. The five-person police commission rejected the recommendations of both the Los Angeles police chief and an independent inspector general, who had found the shooting of 25-year-old Ezell Ford to be consistent with department policy because he had apparently reached for a gun. | The decision, which followed hours of emotional public hearings and closed-door deliberations, was met with relief and some confusion on Tuesday. The five-person police commission rejected the recommendations of both the Los Angeles police chief and an independent inspector general, who had found the shooting of 25-year-old Ezell Ford to be consistent with department policy because he had apparently reached for a gun. |
| Steve Soboroff, the commission chair, said he and his colleagues had faced a “long and extremely difficult task”. | Steve Soboroff, the commission chair, said he and his colleagues had faced a “long and extremely difficult task”. |
| One of the two officers was found to have acted contrary to policy throughout the encounter with Ford, who was detained near his home in south Los Angeles in August 2014 and ended up being shot three times, once in the back. It came two days after the killing of an unarmed teenager in Missouri led to international protests. | |
| The other officer involved in the Ford case was exonerated. | |
| Related: Police shut down Black Lives Matter protest outside LAPD headquarters | Related: Police shut down Black Lives Matter protest outside LAPD headquarters |
| The decision seemed likely to ease days of tension that have seen protesters camped outside the official residence of the Los Angeles mayor, Eric Garcetti, to demand the resignation of Charlie Beck as chief of police and justice for African Americas throughout the city. | |
| The commission listened to one impassioned speech after another, many of them withering in their criticism of race relations in the city that gave rise to the police beating of Rodney King and the ensuing riots of 1992. | The commission listened to one impassioned speech after another, many of them withering in their criticism of race relations in the city that gave rise to the police beating of Rodney King and the ensuing riots of 1992. |
| “I’m asking you. I’m begging you. Please. Please,” Ford’s mother Tritobia said to the commissioners. “He wanted to live.” | “I’m asking you. I’m begging you. Please. Please,” Ford’s mother Tritobia said to the commissioners. “He wanted to live.” |
| Emotions threatened to boil over after the Los Angeles Times reported that both the police department and an independent police watchdog had been planning to find the killing “in policy”. Had that finding been upheld, it would have meant the officers, both members of an anti-gang unit, were exonerated and free to return to patrolling the streets. | |
| Both Beck, the police chief, and Mayor Garcetti have made it a priority to avoid the divisive, hostile and frequently violent style of policing that once made the LAPD notorious. They have struggled, however, with a police culture that still provokes more civilian deaths than any other city in the United States. | Both Beck, the police chief, and Mayor Garcetti have made it a priority to avoid the divisive, hostile and frequently violent style of policing that once made the LAPD notorious. They have struggled, however, with a police culture that still provokes more civilian deaths than any other city in the United States. |
| Ford was one of 18 people killed by the LAPD last year. A Guardian investigation found the LAPD to be the most lethal police force in the US in 2015. | Ford was one of 18 people killed by the LAPD last year. A Guardian investigation found the LAPD to be the most lethal police force in the US in 2015. |
| According to the information leaked to the Los Angeles Times, Ford’s DNA was found on one of the officer’s guns, bolstering the claim that the officers opened fire in the context of a violent struggle. The autopsy showed that Ford had scratches on one of his hands. There were also scratches on the holster of the gun. | |
| Beck, according to the reports, wanted to exonerate the officers entirely, while the independent watchdog faulted the officers for the way they approached Ford and detained him before the struggle began. | |
| Garcetti called Ford’s mother on Sunday night and left a message to tell her his heart “goes out to her and her grieving family” – a gesture one of the protesters dismissed as “a day late and a dollar short”. | |
| On Monday morning the protesters tried to block the mayor’s official car from taking him to the airport for a short trip toWashington. | |
| “I voted for you,” one man yelled, “and I want to take my vote back.” | “I voted for you,” one man yelled, “and I want to take my vote back.” |
| Shortly after Garcetti put out a statement: “Trust and transparency are the foundation of the relationship between the Los Angeles Police Department and people it serves,” he said. “I have confidence that the Police Commission will conduct an impartial and fair-minded review of the investigations.” |