In one, police say a 14-year-old boy fired at them and they found a weapon.
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Fatal police shootings of black men have spawned anger and violence around the country, with protesters calling for an overhaul of policing tactics they believe unfairly target minorities in poor neighbourhoods.
Donnell Thompson’s sister Matrice Stanley, center, speaks with reporters outside the County Hall of Administration after addressing county supervisors in L.A. on Tuesday.
Deputies were anxious that he had been involved in the carjacking and was still armed, and when he finally stood up and charged at them, one of them fired at him, the department said.
“From a legal standpoint, it doesn’t technically matter if he’s armed or not”, said Peter Moskos, a former Baltimore police officer and a criminologist at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in NY. “It matters if a reasonable cop has a reason to believe he is”.
Authorities are promising a “thorough” and “complete” investigation into the shooting, but Thompson’s family says that’s not enough-they want the officer who pulled the trigger, who has not been identified publicly, to face charges. When he rose from the ground and allegedly ran towards the deputies, a deputy sitting in the turret of one of the heavily armored cars fired, killing Donnell Thompson. Less than a minute later-and while officers were still working to ID Alexander and connect him to the carjacking-a resident a few blocks away called 911 to report a man lying in his front yard.
Thompson, a 27-year old black man, suffered from mental disabilities.
Deputies said Thompson did not respond to their attempts to communicate with him and was lying in a position that covered one of his hands from view.
A flashbang was deployed, but had no effect, according to Katz, who said the tactical officers then fired three rubber bullets at Thompson. His family, meanwhile, said Thompson was likely just confused and afraid, and a lawyer representing the family told the Huffington Post that there is no evidence that Thompson “was in any way acting in an aggressive manner or in any way demonstrating that he posed a threat to anyone”. “That’s the key here”.
Asked about reports that the auto was rocking before it flipped, Davis said police have not been able to confirm that but they still are interviewing people.
The shooting occurred in Boyle Heights, a neighborhood east of downtown Los Angeles that is gentrifying in some small sections but is still home to almost three dozen gangs, police say. Thompson was shot to death in Compton, a working-class town bordering the city of Los Angeles, as sheriff’s deputies were searching for a carjacking suspect who had opened fire on officers.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Capt. Steve Katz describes how the situation unfolded when a deputy shot and killed Donnell Thompson, 27, in Compton, Calif., on July 28, after a carjacking and auto chase in which Thompson was not involved, at the Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016.
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The father of an unarmed black man fatally shot by a deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has filed a civil rights claim.
