In photo, racist suspect, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck. From [HERE] Alesia Thomas, a Black woman, died in LAPD custody last July after having her hands and ankles bound together and an officer stomped on her genital area. She suffocated to death. On Monday, Thomas’ family announced plans to file a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), seeking the release of dash-cam video taken the night of her death, showing her last moments alive.

Lawyers for Thomas’s family said video captured by police dashboard cameras could shed light on exactly how the 35-year-old mother of two died. The LAPD acknowledged the existence of the video in August, saying in a statement that it “revealed some questionable tactics and improper comments.”

LAPD Cmd. Andy Smith told the Los Angeles Times Monday afternoon that the tape would not be released until the department’s investigation of the incident is completed, at which point the department will present its findings to the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office for possible criminal charges, or internal disciplinary procedures, against the five officers involved. So far, a supervising sergeant and four police officers on the scene the night of Thomas’s death have been reassigned and placed on administrative duty, Smith said. Like a paid vacation or a reward for killing a Black person -bw.