Commissioners walk out of meeting over police shooting of L.A. man
By Katherine Davis-Young3 hours ago
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People stand on chairs in protest of the death of Ezell Ford, after the police commission walked out due to an audience disturbance, during a meeting of the Los Angeles Police Commission in Los Angeles, California June 9, 2015. REUTERS/Patrick T. Fallon |
By Katherine Davis-Young
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles police commissioners meeting to decide whether two officers were justified in shooting an unarmed black man last year briefly walked out of the session on Tuesday after activists began chanting and holding signs.
All five members of the Los Angeles Police Commission, who had said that they would halt the proceedings if activists became unruly, left the meeting for about 10 minutes during a tense public comment section.
A line of more than a dozen police officers then stood at the front of the room, asking the crowd to calm down, before commissioners returned.
One man who had spoken earlier was arrested in a hallway outside the meeting room for interfering with a police officer, said Commander Andrew Smith, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman.
Commissioners were expected to decide during the administrative hearing on Tuesday whether two LAPD patrolmen were justified in shooting 25-year-old Ezell Ford to death last Aug. 11.
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Tritobia Ford, mother of Ezell Ford, waits to speak during a meeting of the Los Angeles Police Commi …
The officers could be subject to discipline within the department if the commissioners find the shooting was unjustified.
Los Angeles police officials have said two officers shot Ford, who has been described by a family lawyer as mentally challenged, after he struggled with one of them and tried to grab the officer's holstered gun.
Ford's death came days after the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, and touched off demonstrations outside police headquarters in Los Angeles.
Ford's family has filed two lawsuits over the incident, which came during a time of heightened national scrutiny of police use of force against young black men.
During emotional remarks at the meeting, Ford's mother, Tritobia Ford, asked the commission to find against the officers in the administrative proceeding.
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Evan Bunch throws speaker comment cards in protest of Ezell Ford's death in front of the Police …
"I'm asking you, I’m begging you, please. My son would never grab a gun, he wanted to live. That’s all he wanted
He didn’t deserve to die for it," she said.
The Los Angeles Times reported last week that Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck and an inspector general who acts as an independent watchdog had determined that the two officers who shot Ford were justified.
Department investigators found evidence indicating Ford had struggled for control of the gun of one of the patrolmen, supporting the account the officers gave after the incident, the newspaper cited two sources as saying.
(Reporting by Katherine Davis-Young; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Peter Cooney)