It’s about time they exonerated the officer who shot and killed the 13 year old gangster Devin Brown:
LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles police officer was cleared of wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of a 13-year-old stolen car suspect because the officer had only two seconds to react as the boy backed toward him, a prosecutor said Monday.
Deputy District Attorney Christian Gullon addressed the media at a news conference at the Criminal Courts Building following the release of a report clearing Officer Steven Garcia of any wrongdoing in the shooting death of Devin Brown Feb. 6.
Gullon is a member of the District Attorney’s Justice System Integrity Division, which investigates allegations of wrongdoing by police officers. He went to the scene of the shooting the morning it occurred.
“We concluded that Officer Garcia was faced with an imminent deadly force and he responded to that force by firing his weapon and defending himself,” Gullon said.
Investigators used both physical evidence and the statements of a civilian witness to piece together their belief Garcia had such little time to react, Gullon said.
“You could say it happened in the blink of an eye,” Gullon said.
Garcia originally stood behind the passenger door of the patrol car for cover, Gullon said. But he had to move when the other car started in reverse, Gullon said.
“As the car came at him it forced him from his position of cover,” Gullon said. “He then backed away and began shooting. He fired 10 shots in rapid succession.”
The impact of the collision was so violent that it pushed the front passenger door onto the frame of the rear door and showered the patrol car and Garcia’s partner with glass, Gullon said.
“Unfortunately, we’re not surprised by this finding,” Davis’ attorney Brian Dunn said of the report. “We have found consistently that the district attorney’s office has been reluctant to initiate criminal prosecutions of police officers who kill civilians. And we have always maintained that this shooting was completely unjustified and represents an intolerable abuse of power.”
Deputy District Attorney Kerry White, the head of the Justice System Integrity Division, said his unit is not reluctant to file charges against police officers if charges are warranted.
“If we find sufficient evidence to file charges, we will file charges,” Kerry said. “But in this particular case we found there was insufficient evidence.”
The boy led officers on a brief pursuit in a stolen Toyota Camry and was backing the car into a police cruiser at 83rd Street and Western Avenue when Garcia fired 10 shots at the vehicle shortly before 4 a.m., the report states.
“While Officer Garcia’s exact location or movements at the time he fired his weapon cannot be precisely determined, it is undisputed he was exposed, with a high degree of risk of being struck by the oncoming vehicle,” according to the report.
Almost all decisions made by those of us in Law Enforcement have to made in seconds. If you feel your life is in danger then you end that threat, period. This isn’t a movie where we shoot the gun out of people’s hands or shot the engine block of a car. Real life is not a movie.
This kid put the car in reverse and attempted to ram this officer. The officer ended that threat and that’s it. Hopefully the LAPD doesn’t settle a lawsuit and give this family a dime. This would reward bad parenting.
Previous:
13 Year Old Gangster
13 Year Old Gangster, Update
13 Year Old Gangster, Update Again
13 Year Old Gangster, Part IV
LAPD Shootings Update
See author page