L.A. - Jose Antonio Rodriguez's death raises question

Latino community leaders and other activists on  Thursday called for an independent investigation in the death of Jose Antonio  Rodriguez, who died after being arrested by Los Angeles Police Department officers  earlier this year. During a tense community meeting attended by 70 people at the LAPD Academy in  Elysian Park, community leaders urged police officials to address Rodriguez's  death the same way they have handled the recent televised beating of car theft  suspect Stanley Miller. "We need a thorough and fair investigation," said Arturo Ybarra, a member of  the Latino Community Forum, a group that meets regularly with police to discuss  Latino issues. Lenore Solis, another member of the Latino Community Forum, made the same  request. "All I've wanted ... is just to find out what happened," Solis said. "Tell  us what happened, because the rumors are rampant in the community." [more]

Pasadena: Shooting of Unarmed Black Man by Officer Justified, Police Say

The shooting death of a black man by Pasadena police officers in April, which fanned racial tension between residents and law enforcement, was justified, according to an internal investigation released Tuesday by the Pasadena Police Department. Maurice Clark, 30, was fatally wounded April 24 while leading two officers on a chase in northwest Pasadena. During the chase, Clark allegedly fired one gunshot, though not in the direction of police. Fearing for his safety, Officer Keith Gomez fired six shots through a chain-link fence and tarpaulin, striking the suspect twice, investigators said. The findings will be reviewed by the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. Additional probes are being conducted by the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice at the request of the Pasadena Police Department. [more]

D.A. should head shooting probes

REACHING for a gun. It has replaced the fabled "shiny object in the hand' or the alleged drug-induced behavior excuses offered by police when shooting unarmed suspects. Within the past two weeks, two officer-involved shooting deaths of unarmed men in Los Angeles County one in Long Beach and the other in El Monte point to the need for a change in not only police procedure, but investigation of those incidents. The El Monte shooting is especially disturbing as police initially stopped a car based on a tip that the occupants were involved in the gangland slaying of a 6-year-old girl in the parking lot of a convenience store. El Monte Police now say the two aren't suspects in that incident. Indeed, a day after the police shooting, videotape of the killing confirm someone else was involved. Why didn't the two gang detectives wait for this evidence before attempting to make arrests? Unanswered questions about questionable police procedure that left 23-year-old David Viera dead when he refused to obey police commands and allegedly reached for a gun under the passenger seat of a car in which he was riding. There was no gun. [more]

Richmond police tape of May incident released

Richmond police released a videotape yesterday of the May 30 incident in which officers tackled a young woman and her boyfriend and pepper-sprayed several people in an angry crowd. Seven people, all black, were arrested. The incident outside a black-owned club on Orange Street led to allegations of excessive force and racial profiling against the police. An internal investigation found that proper force had been used in making the arrests. The tape, made by a camera in a police cruiser, shows a portion of the arrest of Natasha Miller, who was body-slammed by an officer. members of the Justice Resource Center asked the U.S. Justice Department this week to investigate the incident. [more]

• Link to Video [here]

LA Sheriff to Study Deputies' Role in Miller Police Beating

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said Tuesday that he will investigate allegations that his deputies provided incomplete or misleading information to Los Angeles Police Department detectives looking into the videotaped beating of suspected car thief Stanley Miller. The Sheriff's Department inquiry represents an expansion of the investigation into potential brutality during the June 23 arrest of Miller. [more]

Company that markets Taser Guns Made False Claims: Use of Tasers Linked to Deat

Thousands of police departments, including every major law enforcement agency in the Valley, buy Tasers on a claim that the electric stun guns will instantly take down suspects without inflicting harm. That assertion of safety has generated record sales for Scottsdale's Taser International Inc., which markets its guns as alternatives to deadly force and says its goal is to arm every police officer in America. But an Arizona Republic investigation has revealed that Taser's claims are based on autopsy reports the company never possessed. For years, Taser officials cited these reports as proof that the stun guns never caused "injury or death to another human being." Now, officials acknowledge they never had those autopsy reports and didn't start collecting them until April. The Republic's review of autopsies and interviews with medical examiners found Tasers have been linked to at least five deaths. Medical examiners in three cases involving suspects who died in police custody cited Tasers as a cause or a contributing factor in the deaths. In two other cases, Tasers could not be ruled out as a cause of death.  [more]

Police Officer Says He Shot Dead Unarmed Homeless Black Man because of 'peril'

Long Beach Police Officer Says He Shot Dead Unarmed Homeless Black Man because 'he was in peril'
A Long Beach police officer told investigators he felt in peril when he fatally shot an unarmed man from five feet away because the man had twice tried to grab the officer's service revolver or holster moments earlier, the department said Monday. Officer Dave Garcia, a three-year department veteran, fired once at Keyante Reed, 20, ending an incident that had begun barely three minutes earlier in a nearby 7-Eleven parking lot, where Reed flagged down the officer and yelled for help. [more]

Latino Man's Family Brings Wrongful death Suit Against LA Police

Family members of an Atwater  Village man who died after being taken into police custody filed  a federal civil rights lawsuit Monday against the LAPD claiming  wrongful death, negligence and battery. Jose Antonio Rodriguez, 35, died after being arrested Jan. 17  when police found him running half-naked and trying to jump into  moving cars. Police say he was so crazed that they had to hobble  him, yet still he thrashed around in the back of a police car. Members of the Latino community expressed outrage that this  case was not brought to light sooner, considering two recent  high profile beatings in South Los Angeles are being reviewed by  citizen groups.  LAPD Assistant Chief George Gascon said "There really was no reason for us to be reaching out to the  community for intervention because we had no information that --  one, we had done anything wrong -- secondly, that we even had  contributed to his death." [more]

Family Sues City of Portland and Police -- Unarmed Black Man Shot Dead

The family of an unarmed black motorist who was shot and killed by police has filed a $10 million lawsuit against the city of Portland and two of its officers. Spokesman for both the city and the police said that they hadn't seen the lawsuit filed Monday in Multnomah County Circuit Court, and so couldn't offer substantive comment. Elden Rosenthal, who is representing the family of James Jahar Perez, said the lawsuit filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court Monday isn't about money. "There are bigger issues here," Rosenthal said. "The question of whether there will be change or not. We are still in the same situation we were in in March after two African American motorists had been shot and killed." [more]

Witnesses Contradict Police Story: No Officer said "Gun"- No Objects were Seen

LAPD MIller Beating-
Two women who say they witnessed the beating of alleged car thief Stanley Miller report that none of the police involved called out a warning that Miller had a gun, contradicting the account five officers gave to justify striking and kicking the prone suspect during his arrest. Los Angeles Police Officer John J. Hatfield, who is shown on TV news videos striking Miller repeatedly with a flashlight, said he heard Officer David Hale yell that the suspect had a gun, according to sources familiar with the investigation. Hale, 31, said he shouted the warning after he felt a bulky object in Miller's pocket, the sources said. But one of the women, who said she watched the arrest through a bedroom window about 20 feet away, added: "They didn't say anything about a gun. I promise you, they didn't say anything like that." [more]