Police Chief Charlie Beck testified Monday that he still believes two veteran Los Angeles police officers who were involved in the fatal shooting of a man in Koreatown nearly five years ago should remain in desk jobs.
“I have no immediate intention of returning them to the field,” Beck said.
Under questioning by Deputy City Attorney Daniel Aguilera, the chief denied that the decision by officers George Diego and Allan Corrales to sue the city for racial discrimination affected his judgment when it came to keeping work restrictions in effect for the two men.
“That’s absolutely not true,” Beck said.
Corrales, 35, and Diego, 34, maintain that because they are Latino and the man Corrales shot — 27-year-old Steven Eugene Washington — was black, they have been denied various work opportunities within the LAPD and the chance to do armed security work outside the department in retaliation for complaining.
The civil trial of the lawsuit they filed in November 2012 began its third week today.
The shooting occurred about midnight on March 20, 2010, in the 800 block of South Vermont Avenue. Corrales was still in the passenger seat of a patrol car when he fired at Washington. He said the man had his hands in his waistband and then lunged toward him with one arm.
Aguilera has denied any racial discrimination occurred, and said both men have been treated the same as any other officer in their situation.
Beck, called as a defense witness, said he removed the officers from the field because Washington turned out to be “an unarmed, innocent man” who was “not involved in any criminal activity” at the time.
“Those kinds of shootings always concern me,” Beck said.
Washington also was autistic.
Both Corrales and Diego were assigned at the time to the Olympic Division gang detail. Diego testified that both officers were nearing the end of their shifts and when they saw Washington walking north on Vermont before the confrontation. Diego said he fired one shot after getting out of the car, but the bullet missed Washington.
Although Beck found that the use of deadly force by Corrales was justified, the Police Commission still concluded the officers’ actions were wrong, in particular Corrales’ use of lethal force in alleged violation of LAPD policy.
Beck said he accepted the commission’s decision.
“I look at it as the end result of the process,” Beck said. “True civilian oversight is important to me to make sure … the police serve the public.”
Beck said Corrales and Diego are still able to be promoted within the department. He denied they were victims of discrimination, saying Latinos make up the largest single ethnic group within the LAPD.
The two officers, who each have about 12 years of service with the LAPD, showed no reaction as they sat in the audience and listened to Beck testify.
Washington’s family sued the city and the two sides reached a settlement.
— City News Service