L.A. Cops Won’t Be Charged For Killing A Mentally Ill Black Man Ezell Ford…
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http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-ezell-ford-no-charges-20170124-story.html
No charges against LAPD officers who shot and killed Ezell Ford, D.A. says
Los Angeles County prosecutors said Tuesday they will not bring criminal charges against two Los Angeles police officers who shot and killed Ezell Ford during a clash near his South L.A. home in 2014, a shooting that thrust the LAPD into a national debate about how police interact with African Americans.
Ford, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, was shot and killed by LAPD Officers Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas on Aug. 11, 2014, and his death became a cornerstone of tensions between local activists and the LAPD.
Wampler and Villegas, who were both assigned to anti-gang unit, stopped Ford when they saw him walking away from a larger group in a known gang area on West 65th Street, investigators said. Ford ignored officers’ commands to stop, and Wampler grabbed Ford because he believed the 25-year-old was trying to discard an illegal substance. A struggled ensued, and police have said Ford knocked Wampler to the ground and tried to gain control of his gun.
“The evidence indicates that Ford was on top of Wampler, struggling to obtain Wampler’s primary service weapon and posing an immediate threat to his safety and his partner’s safety,” prosecutors wrote. “In fear for their lives, Villegas and Wampler each responded with deadly force.”
Ford’s DNA was found on Wampler’s holster, according to prosecutors, who said a witness also heard one of the officers screaming “Let go of the gun!” during the struggle.
Three witnesses told prosecutors that Ford had his hands up, and said Wampler tackled Ford to the ground for no reason, according to the report. But prosecutors said forensic evidence disputed their testimony. Blood stains found on Wampler’s uniform and scuff marks on the officer’s utility belt supported the fact that Ford was on top of Wampler, and probably forced the officer to the ground, prosecutors wrote.
Flanked by a picture of her fallen son, Tritobia Ford spoke to reporters at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles Tuesday afternoon and sobbed as she expressed her dismay with the decision by Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey.
“The last bit of hope that we had is crushed,” she said. “These officers are going scot-free. They’re getting away with murder. There’s no justice for Ezell.”
In 2015, the Police Commission concluded that Wampler violated department policy when he fired at Ford.
Josh Rubenstein, an LAPD spokesman, declined to comment on Tuesday’s decision and referred questions to the district attorney’s office. He also declined to say whether the officers had been disciplined after the shooting. Under state law, police discipline matters are confidential.
An attorney representing the officers, Greg Smith, said disciplinary action had not been taken as of Tuesday, though the LAPD could still choose to initiate a disciplinary proceeding.
Ford was killed just two days before a police officer shot and killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and his death came just weeks after a New York City Police officer was filmed using a chokehold to subdue Eric Garner, who died during that altercation. Brown and Garner were black.
Ford’s death has remained a major point of contention for activists who often say the LAPD uses disproportionate force against black and Latino citizens. Some activists, including those affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement, continue to mention the 25-year-old’s name at the Police Commission’s weekly meetings.
The shooting has also caused activists to take aim at Lacey. Many have criticized the length of time it took her office to make a ruling in the Ford case, and some said Tuesday that her decision not to prosecute was indicative of her refusal to hold officers accountable. The district attorney’s office has not charged an LAPD officer in an on-duty shooting since 2000, records show, though Lacey did not take office until 2012.
Melina Abdullah, a local organizer with Black Lives Matter in Los Angeles, said she was not surprised by Lacey’s decision, contending prosecutors routinely ignore what some members of the community consider a pattern of excessive force within the LAPD.
“This is the general ruling that Jackie Lacey’s office has come up with, without exception. She has refused to prosecute officers who ? our people,” she said. “This case is particularly troublesome given that she did have a Police Commission ruling that said the officers were out of policy. She could have prosecuted them, one would think, more easily than other cases, and still she chooses not to.”
Abdullah also argued that Ford’s mental health issues were known to the community and the officers who patrolled it, and blamed the officers for creating the situation that led to the shooting.
“They had no right to approach Ezell Ford in the first place. That’s what the Police Commission really drilled down on,” she said. “He was walking home.”
Paula Madison was one of the police commissioners who reviewed the shooting when it went before the board in 2015. Madison, who is no longer with the panel, said she believes Ford’s death resonated with many Angelenos because of the long-standing complaints within some neighborhoods about stops made by police.
“I’m sorry that this young man lost his life because he happened to be in an economic and social status that did not allow him to live in what’s called a ?safe neighborhood.’ It’s not his fault,” she said. “It’s not his fault and yet he was stopped, and that stop led to him losing his life.”
Lacey defended her decision, and the lengthy review process, in an interview with The Times on Tuesday. She urged critics to read beyond news headlines and delve into the facts of the case, particularly physical evidence that showed scratches on Wampler’s handcuff holster and Ford’s DNA on the gun holster.
“You have an officer who honestly believes that he's about to be killed…. He has the right to defend himself,” Lacey said.
Although the civilian Police Commission ruled that Wampler was wrong to use deadly force, disapproving of his tactics in the moments before the shooting, Lacey said the officers’ tactics prior to the shooting did not factor into her decision.
“Even if you had a poor stop, that doesn't mean that Wampler and Villegas are entitled to be shot,” Lacey said. “That's really what our focus was on.”
Asked about the lengthy review process, Lacey said her office did not receive the case from the LAPD until May 2015. A federal lawsuit filed by Ford’s family also slowed the process, as prosecutors had to wait months to gain access to witness depositions taken in that case.
Lacey’s decision was met with praise from the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents rank-and-file officers in the city.
“No officer ever wants to be put in a dangerous situation where they must struggle to maintain control of their weapon, but officers must be allowed to protect themselves, their partners and the public,” the union said in a statement.
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Police Commission President Matt Johnson said he believed Ford’s death was investigated thoroughly and fairly, and called for police and the community to work together to find ways to prevent future shootings.
“Any loss of life is a tragedy, irrespective of legal analysis or debate, and we must rededicate ourselves every day to finding solutions to prevent such tragedies from occurring,” he said. “Losing a child is painful beyond compare, under any circumstances.”
The Police Commission determined Wampler violated LAPD rules when he shot Ford, even though Wampler said he was in a life-or-death struggle. Its decision closed a 10-month investigation and overruled LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, who has said both officers were right to open fire and urged commissioners to clear them of any wrongdoing.
The board said Wampler’s handling of the encounter was so flawed that it led to the fatal confrontation. Villegas, however, was cleared in his use of deadly force.
Two reports presented to the Police Commission — one from Beck, the other from Inspector General Alex Bustamante — offered differing accounts of why the officers decided to confront Ford.
According to Beck’s report, the officers told investigators that when Ford would not stop to talk to them, they grew suspicious that he had drugs and was trying to ditch them to avoid arrest. Those suspicions, Beck said, were based on having seen Ford walking away from a group of gang members.
But in his report to the commission, Bustamante said the officers told investigators they never saw Ford interact with the group and that he was 20 or 30 feet away from them when the officers first saw him. No drugs were found on or near Ford, the report said.
Wampler told investigations that when he grabbed Ford and tried to handcuff him, Ford turned and tackled the officer, pinning him to the ground, according to Beck’s report. The officers described a fast-moving encounter with Ford, which they said escalated suddenly and lasted only seconds.
“He’s going for my gun. He’s going for my gun,” Wampler shouted to Villegas, according to Beck’s report.
Villegas told investigators he believed his partner was in danger and opened fire two separate times. Wampler said he grabbed his backup revolver and shot Ford in the back seconds later.
The Police Commission disapproved of Villegas’ initial decision to draw his gun early in the confrontation but said he was ultimately right to fire at Ford to protect Wampler.
Wampler and Villegas sued the city this summer, alleging they were being kept on desk duty and unfairly denied advancement and other employment opportunities because of their race and Ford’s. Wampler was described in the lawsuit as Caucasian, though department records list him as Asian American. Villegas is Latino.
Mayor Eric Garcetti said Tuesday he hopes his administration can work closely with the LAPD to prevent future shootings.
“I am committed to giving the men and women of the LAPD the skills and tools they need to be as secure as possible while doing an incredibly difficult job on our behalf. It is that work — and the work yet to come — that we hope will one day make these kinds of tragedies a thing of the past,” Garcetti said in a statement.
Even as the Ford case comes to a close, Lacey must now turn to another controversial shooting: the May 2015 killing of Brendon Glenn in Venice.
Glenn, 29, was unarmed when he was shot and killed by Los Angeles Police Officer Clifford Proctor. Proctor has said Glenn was reaching for his partner’s service sidearm when he opened fire, but Beck has said evidence disputes that statement. Proctor’s partner also told investigators he did not know why his fellow officer opened fire.
Lacey said her office will render a decision in that case “as soon, but as carefully, as possible.” -
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http://www.kabc.com/2017/01/25/l-a-county-attorney-on-ezell-ford-case-im-sure-the-police-department-is-not-proud-of-what-happened/L.A. County D.A. on Ezell Ford Case: “I’m sure the police department is not proud of what happened”
Los Angeles County prosecutors announced Tuesday they will not criminally charge the two Los Angeles police officers who shot and killed Ezell Ford in 2014. LA County District Attorney said her office conducted an exhaustive study of the case before concluding that the actions against an unarmed black man by LAPD Officers Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas were justified.
“We spent about two years, really going through this on the case,” Lacey said. “We received the case in May of 2015. The shooting occurred in August of 2014. We did an exhaustive search. We knew this was part of the national narrative about police shooting men of color.”
Lacey said the case was a very hard one to resolve in a way that would assuage the anger in the South L.A. community where Ezell was killed.
“This is a tragic situation all the way around. There are no winners in this. In other words, I’m sure the police department is not proud of what happened.”
The public is welcome to take a look at how the D.A.’s Office reached its conclusions.
“We have a 28-page report which people can look at online. A lot of times people won’t even read that. But we have it available. We want to be as transparent as possible.”
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http://mynewsla.com/crime/2017/01/24/mom-of-slain-ezell-ford-says-lapd-officers-behind-shooting-are-getting-away-scot-free/Mom of slain Ezell Ford says LAPD officers behind shooting are `getting away scot-free`
The mother of Ezell Ford, who was shot dead by Los Angeles police in 2014, said Tuesday the decision by prosecutors not to charge the officers involved means her son “will not see justice.”
Speaking to reporters at First AME Church in South Los Angeles, Tritobia Ford said the officers involved are getting away with murder.
“? is the ultimate judge and they will pay for what they did,” she said. “… He never did nothing that would warrant him being murdered in the street like he was on the night of August 11, 2014. It was unwarranted. It was unjustified. And as I say, I believe ? will have the final say. They may have gotten by right now, but it’s not over. They will have their day.”
Fighting back tears, she referenced the “muzzle imprint” found on her son’s back and the two other shots that were fired into him.
“My son was unarmed. He was murdered. And there will be no justice. He will not see justice. There will be no justice for Ezell,” she said.
Ford said that even after the city Police Commission ruled the shooting was out of policy, she did not believe that LAPD Chief Charlie Beck would discipline the officers.
“These officers are getting away scot-free,” she said.
Ford said she was not shocked at District Attorney Jackie Lacey’s decision not to pursue charges, “but the amount of time that it took for the district attorney to reach this decision is just mind-boggling.”
“I just believe that she knew … long before now that she had no intention of filing charges,” she said. “… It just doesn’t make sense and it’s not fair.”
Ford said the district attorney called her directly to tell her about the decision before it was made public. She said she told Lacey she would never believe that her son would have tried to wrestle a gun away from a police officer.
“There’s no way in my mind,” she said. “My son had dealt with the police before … and he knew better.”
The district attorney told reporters that she called Ford’s mother to notify her that prosecutors were declining to file a case against the two officers.
“She lost her son and as I was listening to her, you know, she was very upset, and as you can understand, she should be,” Lacey said. “It felt like she was reliving it all over again. But I explained to her that we were careful, that we went through every piece of evidence that we could and the loss of Mr. Ford in this situation is tragic all the way around. I wish it had been avoided … She’s lost a lot.” -
http://mynewsla.com/crime/2017/01/25/recall-effort-targeting-da-over-decision-to-not-prosecute-cops-in-ezell-ford-shooting/Recall effort targeting DA over decision to not prosecute cops in Ezell Ford shooting
A coalition of religious and community groups announced Wednesday it plans to begin a recall effort targeting Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey over her decision not to prosecute the two Los Angeles police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Ezell Ford.
The District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday that no charges will be filed against the two officers. Ford’s 2014 death has been a focal point of protests against the Los Angeles Police Department over police shootings of black suspects.
In a 28-page report detailing its investigation into Ford’s Aug. 11, 2014, shooting death, the District Attorney’s Justice System Integrity Division concluded that Los Angeles police Officers Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas “acted lawfully in self-defense and in defense of others.”
A coalition announced Wednesday it will begin a recall effort over Lacey’s refusal to file charges in connection with Ford’s death “and her refusal to criminally prosecute other officers who have killed or used excessive force against citizens.”
“Lacey has betrayed the trust of our community and has essentially been useless in terms of protecting our citizens from police murder and abuse,” a coalition statement said. “Ezell Ford was killed while walking home minding his own business.”
The coalition was described in the statement as including the National Action Network, Project Islamic Hope, Weller Street Baptist Church and a coalition of activists.
Ford’s family, which sued the department over the shooting in 2015, contended that Ford was “mentally challenged” and wasn’t doing anything wrong when he was approached by the offices.
Police and prosecutors said the two LAPD Newton Area gang enforcement officers approached Ford, 25, because he was acting suspiciously and may have been trying to discard an illegal substance. A struggle ensued.
Ford — who was shot three times — was taken to California Medical Center Hospital, where he died less than two hours later.
“After looking at this for a couple of years and taking, you know, all of the measures to talk to everyone that we possibly could, we believe that we would not be justified as an office filing murder charges in this case,” Lacey told reporters Tuesday.
“What was persuasive is the physical evidence in this case supported what the officers said, which is Officer Wampler was on the bottom, Ford was on top of him and was struggling with him for control of his service weapon, which was in his holster at his side,” the district attorney said.
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http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-jackie-lacey-recall-20170125-story.htmlL.A. County D.A. faces recall effort after not filing charges in Ezell Ford shooting
Following L.A. County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey’s decision this week not to file charges against two officers in the fatal shooting of a mentally ill black man, a group of civil rights activists Wednesday announced an effort to recall her.
“This is a last-ditch measure,” author and activist Earl Ofari Hutchinson, said at a Los Angeles news conference. “Ezell Ford was not the only one. That was the tipping point, but you have a pattern here.”
Ford, 25, was killed by police when he was stopped while walking home in South L.A. in the summer of 2014. His death became a rallying point for local civil rights activists and is included in the national conversation about policing in black and Latino neighborhoods.
Lacey announced Tuesday she wouldn’t charge the officers, finding that Ford tried to grab one of the officer’s guns during the encounter and posed “an immediate threat.” Lacey concluded the officers acted lawfully when they responded with deadly force.
During the news event held at the L.A. headquarters of the National Action Network, Hutchinson, several clergymen and other activists acknowledged that launching a successful recall was a “gigantic task,” but they said it wasn’t unprecedented.
They noted that Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican former bodybuilder and movie star, became governor during a historic recall election in 2003, following a wave of anti-government sentiment that ousted then-Democratic Gov. Gray Davis.
Lacey, however, is a largely popular figure. She was elected to a second term last year after running unopposed. It was the first time in 60 years a top prosecutor had gone unchallenged in L.A. County.
Asked about the proposed recall, Lacey said in a statement that she understands the community’s frustration.
“However, as District Attorney,” she said, “I took an oath to follow the law. The physical evidence and the law support my decision in this case.”
She came under fierce criticism from many civil rights advocates, as well as Ford’s family, for taking more than two years to announce her decision in the prominent case.
In a 28-page report published Tuesday, prosecutors detailed their decision not to file charges, as well as the officers’ account of what happened on August 11, 2014.
Just after 8 p.m. that night, Officers Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas — assigned at the time to an anti-gang unit — cruised through South L.A. on patrol.
They first spotted Ford sitting on a couch near a house that was known for gang activity. As Ford, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, walked toward his home, Wampler told his partner, “Let’s at least talk to him.”
According to the report, Ford made eye contact and walked away, which Wampler said gave him reasonable suspicion to detain Ford. The officer said the 25-year-old then tackled him around the waist, adding that he “definitely could not see [Ford’s] hands.” Villegas, however, initially told police investigators that he believed Ford had his hands above his head as Wampler made contact with him.
Wampler said that during a tussle he felt Ford grip his hand and assumed he was trying to grab his gun, so he yelled out, “Partner, he’s getting my gun!” After Villegas shot Ford twice, Wampler fired as well.
The Police Commission concluded in 2015 that Wampler had violated department policy when he shot Ford. The commissioners also faulted the officer’s decision to approach and physically contact Ford.
Peter Bibring, director of police practices for the ACLU of Southern California, said in a statement that the prosecutors’ report about the Ford case “raises more questions about whether the Los Angeles district attorney’s office provides any meaningful check on police shootings.”
“Since 2000,” he said, “only a single police officer in Southern California has faced criminal charges for shooting a member of the public.”
At the news conference Wednesday, activists said they have drafted a statement detailing the recall, which they plan to deliver to Lacey, and said they will begin gathering signatures Thursday.
The Rev. Oliver Buie of Holman United Methodist Church said Lacey “seems to close her eyes at these shootings and tends to basically stand with the police no matter what happens.”