[symple_googlemap title=”Officer Shooting Location” location=”Breed Street and Cesar Chavez Ave., Los Angeles, Ca” height=”300″ zoom=”15″]
The Los Angeles Police Commission ruled Tuesday that officers were justified in fatally shooting an armed 14-year-old boy last summer after responding to a graffiti call.
The board ruled — on a 3-1 vote — that the shooting was within department policy, which was in agreement with a report by LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, though the panel ruled unanimously that one of the officer’s tactics leading up to the shooting were not within policy.
Jesse James Romero was killed around 5:50 p.m. last Aug. 9 near Breed Street and Cesar Chavez Avenue. Officers said they believed he fired a shot at them from around a corner, although his parents claim in a federal lawsuit filed last month that the teen threw the gun over a fence and it discharged.
“There’s no justification for why they killed my son,” Teresa Dominguez told the commissioners in Spanish before they met in a closed session and voted on the case.
According to Beck, officers had gone to the neighborhood on a report of graffiti and vandalism in an alley and encountered three suspects, including Romero, who ran away and looked like he had a weapon in his waistband.
A video surveillance camera captured Romero running with a gun in his waistband. Before rounding a corner, the officers heard a gunshot and believed he was firing at them, according to Beck’s report.
When Officer Eden Medina turned the corner, he reported seeing Romero in a squatting position, with his right hand extended out, and fired two rounds in response. At least one of the shots struck the teen, who was the second suspect to be shot and killed by Medina in a 12-day period.
The report did not state that Medina actually saw the gun in Romero’s hand, and the officer’s body camera showed that the weapon was found behind a wrought-iron fence.
A witness told the Los Angeles Times that Romero threw the gun toward a fence and that it went off when it hit the ground. The same witness said Romero turned around and looked startled after the shot went off before two more gunshots brought him to the ground.
Police said another witness saw Romero shoot in the direction of the officers. Beck’s report did not state where Romero was hit by gunfire, but the lawsuit states that he was shot in the back.
“It would have been impossible for Jesse to have the gun in his hand at the time the officers shot him in the back,” Humberto Guizar, an attorney for Romero’s family, said in June.
The lawsuit alleges the LAPD delayed getting medical assistance for the teen, and lacked probable cause to stop him and to use deadly force against him. In doing so, Romero was deprived of his civil rights and Medina caused his wrongful death, the suit alleges.
The lawsuit also alleges the LAPD has failed to properly train and supervise its officers, leading to the unnecessary and unreasonable use of excessive force, and used unconstitutional police tactics to investigate use-of- force incidents.
“The LAPD has fostered a culture of allowing its officers to shoot people and get way with it, and not discipline them and not take them off the streets,” Guizar alleged.
–City News Service