The video Gardena police didn't want you to see

[GMDino]

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-federal-judge-orders-release-of-videos-20150714-story.html#page=1

Quote:In the two years since Gardena police officers fatally shot an unarmed man, city officials fought to keep graphic video of the killing under wraps.

The grainy videos, captured by cameras mounted in two patrol cars, show three men mistakenly suspected of stealing a bicycle standing in a street under the glare of police lights. With their weapons trained on them, officers scream at the men to keep their hands up.


While two of the men remain motionless, Ricardo Diaz Zeferino appears confused by the officers’ instructions. He drops and raises his arms repeatedly, showing the officers his hands and stepping backward and then forward a few paces. A laser dot from an officers’ pistol can be seen on his shirt. After Diaz Zeferino removes a baseball cap from his head, officers standing to the side of the men unleash a volley of gunfire.

The videos show Diaz Zeferino, 35, collapsing to the ground, along with one of his friends, who was wounded.

Gardena’s attempts to prevent the public from viewing the shooting met with defeat Tuesday, when a federal judge ordered the release of the recordings.

In unsealing the videos, U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson said the public had an interest in seeing the recordings, especially after the city settled a lawsuit over the shooting for $4.7 million. Wilson rejected last ditch efforts by Gardena attorneys, who argued the city had paid the settlement money in the belief that the videos would remain under seal.

The “defendants' argument backfires here — the fact that they spent the city's money, presumably derived from taxes, only strengthens the public's interest in seeing the videos,” Wilson wrote. “Moreover, while the videos are potentially upsetting and disturbing because of the events they depict, they are not overly gory or graphic in a way that would make them a vehicle for improper purposes.”

The judge’s decision was a response to a request from the Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press and Bloomberg, which challenged a blanket protective order that had prevented the release of the videos and other evidence in the court case.

Wilson’s decision comes as law enforcement agencies nationwide increasingly have embraced the use of cameras worn by officers and placed in patrol cars to record police interactions with civilians. But few agencies have made their videos public, spurring a debate over the need to balance the privacy of those captured on the recordings and transparency in policing.

After ordering the videos to be released, Wilson denied a request from Gardena attorneys that he set aside his order as they pursued an appeal of his decision. The city then filed an emergency motion with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, asking it to intervene.

The Times, meanwhile, received copies of the videos from court officials. After The Times published the videos online, 9th Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski issued an order that “the police car camera video footage shall remain under seal pending further order of this court.”

Gardena Police Chief Ed Medrano released a statement late Tuesday describing the shooting as “tragic for all involved.”

“We have thoroughly reviewed our response and have initiated new training, including the tactical use of cover techniques to slow down fast-moving events,” he said.

He said Gardena police officers will soon be equipped with body cameras and that he continues to oppose publicly releasing recordings out of privacy concerns.

“Our police officers are entrusted with sensitive and extremely personal information and we often come in contact with people under tragic situations and at their worst,” he said. “We worry about the implications of this decision and its impact on victims and average citizens who are recorded by the police.”

The Gardena shooting occurred at night June 2, 2013, after police responded to a call about a bicycle stolen from outside a CVS drugstore. A police dispatcher mistakenly told officers the crime was a robbery, which typically involves weapons or force.

A sergeant responding to the call saw two men riding bicycles near the store. The men were friends of the man whose bike had been stolen and were helping him search for his bike. Mistaking them for the thieves, the sergeant stopped the men, according to a memo written by a prosecutor from the L.A. County district attorney’s office, who reviewed the case.

Diaz Zeferino, whose brother owned the stolen bicycle, ran up to join the other two men as police detained them.

One patrol car video shows him continuing to walk toward his friends despite an officer shouting at him to stop. On the videos, officers can be heard repeatedly telling Diaz Zeferino to keep his hands up as he moves his arms up and down.

The three officers who opened fire — Christopher Mendez, Christopher Sanderson and Matthew Toda — were standing to the left side of the men.

Diaz Zeferino was struck eight times. The second man shot, Eutiquio Acevedo Mendez, was hit once in the back and has recovered from his injuries.


The district attorney’s office declined to file charges against the officers. Deputy Dist. Atty. Rosa Alarcon wrote in a memo about the shooting that Diaz Zeferino’s right hand was no longer visible from the officers’ angle and that it was reasonable for them to believe he was going to reach for a weapon.

“They made a split-second decision and they were not required to hold fire in order to ascertain whether Diaz [Zeferino] would, in fact, injure or kill them,” she wrote.

An attorney for Diaz Zeferino's family, R. Samuel Paz, said the video clearly makes clear the man was not a threat to officers.

When Zeferino’s relatives and the other men filed a federal lawsuit against Gardena, attorneys for the men complained to Wilson that the city was dragging its feet in providing them information about the shooting, according to Wilson’s written ruling. Before turning anything over, attorneys for Gardena insisted on a protective order that would prevent the release of evidence in the case, Wilson wrote.

The city argued that the videos showed that Diaz Zeferino repeatedly ignored police commands and reached into his pockets and waistband area. But attorneys suing the city contended that the recordings showed a cold-blooded shooting of clearly unarmed men.


After settling the lawsuit, Diaz Zeferino’s family and the other men supported the request of The Times and other media groups, saying the videos should be released. Gardena contended that releasing the video would deter police from using such cameras and would endanger the safety of the officers at a time of heightened public criticism of police killings.

Graphic video. But at least they are being trained differently now.

Secondly...who would WANT to be a cop in LA?

[Vas Deferens]

(07-15-2015, 12:52 PM)GMDino Wrote: Secondly...who would WANT to be a cop in LA?

Always some good ones out there, but think there are a lot who just want a license to kill.