Parents of Slain Teen Jesse Romero Sue LAPD: Cops Said He Pointed a Gun at Them but Video Shows He was Unarmed

From [HERE] The parents of a gun-wielding 14-year-old whom Los Angeles police shot and killed in Boyle Heights last year have filed suit against the city and an officer, alleging that police violated their son’s civil rights, used excessive force and denied him timely medical care.

“By not disciplining police officers when they use excessive force, [the city has] fostered a culture of allowing officers to shoot people and get away with it,” said the family’s attorney, Humberto Guizar, at a Friday press conference.

Police have said Jesse Romero was with two others behind an apartment complex near Chicago Street and Cesar Chavez Avenue on Aug. 9, 2016, tagging gang-type graffiti when gang officers approached. The three bolted, the LAPD said, with Romero “grabbing his front waistband.”

As they approached Breed Street, officers heard a gunshot. One of the officers then saw Romero crouched on the sidewalk with his arm extended, police said in a statement. “Fearing Romero was going to shoot at them,” the officer fired two shots.

That officer, Eden Medina, fatally shot a man in Boyle Heights just 12 days before he shot and killed Romero.

In the lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday, the family said Medina should not have been allowed to return to the field so soon after his first shooting.

Police also have said that a witness saw Romero fire a handgun in the direction of the officers.

At Friday’s press conference, Guizar also disputed police accounts that a witness saw Jesse fire a handgun, and that he was pointing a handgun at officers when he was shot. Witnesses saw Jesse throw the gun and a video shows the gun on the other side of a wrought-iron fence, Guizar said.

One witness who said she saw the shooting explained that Romero pulled the revolver from his waistband, threw it against a fence and ran. The gun fired when it hit the ground, she told The Times.

“This is an antique revolver, probably a .38 caliber, which does not have a modern safety device that prevents accidental discharges when dropped on its hammer,” Gregory Lee, a retired supervisory special agent with the Drug Enforcement Agency, wrote in an email. “It most probably fired when it was dropped.” [MORE]

“It would have been impossible for Jesse to have a gun in his hand, aiming it at the officers at the time they shot him,” Guizar said.

Videos released by LA Weekly, Democracy Now contradict the LAPD version of the shooting.

The video, which begins just after the shooting, shows officers standing over the boy’s body on the sidewalk and then handcuffing him. It shows the alleged gun far way on other side of a metal wrought iron fence. [MORE] and [MORE]

The video, which begins just after the shooting, shows officers standing over the boy’s body on the sidewalk and then handcuffing him. 

Another witness described seeing one officer extend his arm and shoot the running teenager twice in the back. Then the boy fell. [MORE]

The boy’s parents said Jesse’s death has taken a toll on the family. Their second son, who is now 14, “is very, very depressed,” said Jesse’s father, Jesus Romero Garcia. “We only want justice.”

Jesse’s mother, Teresa Dominguez, held up a framed photo of Jesse throughout the press conference. “He was a very good boy” and a good student, she said. “He had many dreams.”

In October the parents filed a legal claim against the city, a precursor to a lawsuit, alleging excessive force. The city has not responded, Guizar said, which allows the parents to file a lawsuit.