Criminal law, Society

Video: LAPD Officers Shoot and Kill Homeless Man

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Below is a videotape that is likely to be at the center of a growing controversy over the shooting of a homeless man by officers with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). The officers say that they first tried to use a taser, which proved ineffective, and that the man then struggled with an officer over his service weapon. Various officers reportedly fired at the man who was declared dead at the scene. The man has only been identified by his street name, “Africa.”

The officers were from LAPD’s Central Division and Safer Cities Initiative and were responding to a call concerning a possible robbery. The videotape also shows a woman grabbing a police baton and being disarmed.

There are five shots that can be heard on the videotape below. Two officers and a sergeant reportedly fired at the man. One can also hear officers scream “drop the gun.” The question is how much can be seen of the critical moment when the man allegedly grabbed for the service weapon.

Notably, one account says that an officer had a body camera. That may help clear up the differing accounts.

Source: LA Times

109 thoughts on “Video: LAPD Officers Shoot and Kill Homeless Man”

  2. I just witnessed modern day “Brownshirts” murdering / killing a homeless infirm human being. Quite a “modern day solution,” for a housing crisis? VILE!

  3. issac

    These comments are as perfect an example of how an issue of necessary force versus unnecessary force is transitioned into a myriad of personal arguments. This is not about the law. This is not about the homeless. This is about the abilities of a ‘squad’ of cops unable to subdue a single person without pumping six bullets into him. There is the argument that a cop must make a decision when a threat is imminent. However, there is another and more important argument for cops, when they number five, to be able to physically and without resorting to guns, knock a guy to the ground and restrain him. This is a pure and simple example of an out of control police situation with one out of control cop opting to end it with his gun.

    All the rest comes after that.

    on 1, March 3, 2015 at 4:10 pm Wally

    Why does this surprise you when the LAPD motto is We treat you like a King.

    No, they are not all about that. They are also about how David would take him into his home and what to do about the homeless

  4. These comments are as perfect an example of how an issue of necessary force versus unnecessary force is transitioned into a myriad of personal arguments. This is not about the law. This is not about the homeless. This is about the abilities of a ‘squad’ of cops unable to subdue a single person without pumping six bullets into him. There is the argument that a cop must make a decision when a threat is imminent. However, there is another and more important argument for cops, when they number five, to be able to physically and without resorting to guns, knock a guy to the ground and restrain him. This is a pure and simple example of an out of control police situation with one out of control cop opting to end it with his gun.

    All the rest comes after that.

  5. Guns don’t do anybody any good.

    After a shooting, look for Alcoholism and Divorce.

    These police might just be as mental as these street people one day.

    Hey don’t shoot me, Mr. Policeman, think about your own Mental Health.

  6. The firing squad looks multiracial — at least in the screen grab — so we may be spared a visit by Sharpton et al. and lecture from POTUS.

  8. David has a good heart. However, endangering your family and yourself is not the solution to either homelessness or mental illness. There are other ways to assist that could provide the results you would hope for.

    I was in Soroptomists and we had a good program for women who were being battered and needed to “get away” from their situation of abuse. As much as I felt for these women, I would NEVER invite them into my home and expose my family to the potential danger of being in the middle of their abusive relationships. I wouldn’t want to have to shoot anyone 😐

    We instead set up safe houses ,motels or apartments as temporary shelter and provided the women and children with the necessities that they lacked when they left their situations. Clothing, toiletries, blankets, toys, cooking materials, food. etc. Bringing in some other charities the women were helped to relocate, get jobs, job training and had protective services in some cases. We helped them to move onto a (hopefully) better life. Sadly…..some of them decided to just go back into their own bad situation. You can’t help everyone. Some people even resist being helped.

    Having these women and children in my home would not only expose my own family, but would not have provided the support system to allow positive results.

  9. A lot of shrinks abhorred blood and guts and such. In medical school they opted into psychiatry to avoid the physical medical world. Many shrinks are wacko themselves. They are like preachers. They lord over others.

  10. Here in CA, we have a situation where the pendulum moved too far in the other direction. As has been pointed out, it used to be absurdly easy to get someone committed against their will. To combat this, it is now extremely difficult to have someone committed long term. The difficulty is that those who are truly mentally ill are incapable of determining what is best for them. Look at Amanda Bynes’ family’s repeated, desperate attempts to get her treatment. The mentally ill tend to self medicate with illegal drugs, or find the side effects of prescription drugs intolerable, and refuse to take them, sending them into a spiral.

    I worked with a woman whose cousin was schizophrenic, with possibly some other disorders. It was literally only a matter of time before he hurt someone, but according to the law, he had to actually hurt someone or himself before he could be committed. Another coworker’s friend from high school drove around with a sword in her car to fight “demons” and would get into arguments with imaginary people. Same story.

    Here in SoCal, the mild climate attracts a great many homeless people. Some were mentally ill to begin with, others became so after drug abuse. It’s quite sad.

  13. Pogo, George McGovern’s daughter died in an alley on the eastside of Madison. Mental health and AODA issues. He helped get a detox facility built as a tribute.

  14. David, Horrible choices. One of my mom’s younger sisters was schizophrenic. My mom, for about 5 years, raised her sisters 4 kids and us 4 kids. It was one of the most prolonged acts of pure love I have ever witnessed. It put a strain on our family, but it had to be done. Ruth was finally committed to the State Hospital in Middletown, CT. My mom went to visit and was overcome w/ sadness and anger when she saw the conditions. Ruth’s husband had money, he and his brothers owned a construction company. So, she got them to suck it up and put Ruth in the Institute of Living in Hartford. Jonathan Winters has said that place helped save his life. They got Ruth on a good regimen and she led a decent life @ home after that. There were episodes where inpatient was needed, but they became more rare as time progressed. I do not cavalierly say institutions are better than the street. But, you live in a fair weather climate. There are many homeless here in San Diego. If I were homeless, this is where I would want to be. Seeing the homeless in Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, etc. is a whole different ball game when it is -25 degrees.

  15. ” The person rarely ever gets help. The facility just collects tax money to give the person pills. That’s it. I wait for them to get out to actually help them, after the drugs wear off. ”

    1. Schizophrenics generally do not improve. Their brain is degenerating, not unlike Alzheimers or Parkinsons.
    2. These folks are targets for abuse on the street.
    3. Parents of adult schizophrenics find there is nothing they can do to help them.
    4. Many of these folks end up in prison, our current form of institutionalization of the mentally ill.

    It’s very sad, but there is often no help for them, except to reduce their suffering and keep them away from harm.
    As for the pills, they don’t cure their symptoms, but they may keep the worst symptoms down.

    Consider Kurt Vonnegut’s son. His diagnosis of schizophrenia we learn about in his book ‘The Eden Express’ was eventually replaced with bipolar disorder.:

    “DR. MARK VONNEGUT: In short, like a lot of people, and like it happened to other people in my family, in my early 20s, I became convinced that I didn’t have to eat anymore or sleep anymore. I was hearing voices continuously. They had to put me in a psychiatric hospital.

    I have had four terrible psychotic breaks. And there is nothing romantic about them. Life is discontinuous and horrible. And getting back on your feet is a lot of work.”

    And this:

    “When Mark was recovering from his initial psychotic episodes, he revisited the naïve views about mental illness that were popular in alternative culture and that, surprisingly, are continuing to have an impact. His article for Harper’s, “Why I Want To Bite R. D Laing’s Leg” challenged people to separate their urges to conflate independent thought with the mystique of psychosis.

    Mark doesn’t think that his illness is just a normal reaction to life’s problems; he carefully describes how a psychotic relapse he suffered many years after the onset of his illness was related to his problematic decision to suddenly stop taking a sleeping medication to which he’d become addicted.

    Mark is very clear about the fact that the ongoing stability and success of his life has been built on his willingness to use lithium to keep his bipolar disorder under control. His criticisms of pharmaceutical companies are as sharp as any anti-medication ranter and his anguish about the side effects of long exposure to lithium, especially his problematic hand tremor, is palpable.”

  16. Call me crazy, but I’m not real big on exposing my family or myself to a schizophrenic by inviting one into my house

    1. Jim22 wrote: “Call me crazy, but I’m not real big on exposing my family or myself to a schizophrenic by inviting one into my house.”

      Everybody has to make their own choices, but I would consider myself selfish to make that choice. I have taken in not only many schizophrenics, but thieves, drunks, murderers, and drug addicts. We have to decide if we are going to walk in love toward our neighbor and value their life equal to others, or will we be selfish and consider our own life as more important. I have learned the principle of love without trust. On my guest room in my home, I have an outside door and a deadbolt on the inside door that locks that person from coming into my home. I simply tell the person that we are strangers and I have my beautiful daughters to protect, so the door is locked while we sleep. They always understand. If me and my family are murdered or hurt someday trying to love our neighbor, well, that is the price of loving. It is better to love and be injured doing that, than never to love at all.

      1. Davidm2575

        Why do you say you are not a Christian? Just because some people don’t walk the walk does not mean that you don’t Characterize the Virtues that Christ Preached. The only difference between you and I that I can see really is that our personal relationship with God supersedes all prescribed moralities, social structures and communal norms. I am an Existential Christian and Paul C. Schulte said that was possible so idk

  19. The “brain is dying, probably from infection” in schizophrenics? Interesting theory.

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