Rulings by the Los Angeles Police Commission released Thursday determined that Los Angeles Police Department officers acted within department policy when they shot and killed suspects in two separate incidents.
All Los Angeles police officers involved in a fatal standoff with a barricaded suspect shot with Tasers, beanbags from shotguns and ultimately a rifle in April of last year acted within department policy, according to one ruling.
Cesar Frias, 20, withstood a barrage of Tasers, beanbag blasts and 40mm sponge rounds on April 5 and April 6 2016 before being shot by an officer after he slashed another officer with a pair of scissors, according to a report on the incident by LAPD Chief Charlie Beck.
The commission cleared all officers and agreed with Beck’s report on a 3- 0 vote.
The incident began when two officers responded to a call of a man verbally threatening someone inside a residence in the 14700 block of Lakeside Street in Sylmar. The officers attempted to calm Frias down, who had just been released from a 72-hour mental health hold, which eventually led to a struggle, Beck’s report said.
Frias withstood a Taser and then barricaded himself in his room. Officers eventually breached the room and shot him with more rounds of beanbag blasts and Tasers because he was holding two knives, according to Beck, but the shots had little impact on him.
Officers retreated from the room and eventually handed over the scene to SWAT officers from the Metropolitan Division, who used tear gas on Frias, the report said.
Frias fled out of the window into his back yard holding scissors, and withstood numerous beanbag shotgun blasts and 40mm sponge blasts that again did not slow him down, Beck wrote.
Frias eventually got close enough to a SWAT officer and slashed his arm, at which point another officer shot him with a rife, according to the report.
Frias fell to the ground but continued to try and stab the officers, Beck wrote, and continued to withstand more Tasers that did not slow him down. Officers then deployed a pinning pole that trapped him next to the house and they were able to cuff him, the report said.
Frias died at Holy Cross Medical Center.
In another ruling by the Los Angeles Police Commission released Thursday, it was decided that an officer who fatally shot a man as he was holding a knife to another man’s neck acted within department policy.
Officers responded to a call of a man being held hostage with a knife in the 1400 block of Gabriel Garcia Marquez Street at about 8:20 p.m on April 10 of last year.
Police discovered 27-year-old Arturo Valdez inside an apartment and holding the knife to a man’s throat, and was shot to death by an officer after he failed to drop the knife, according to a report by LAPD Chief Charlie Beck.
The commission agreed with Beck’s report on a 4-0 vote.
–City News Service, staff