Updated at 2:30 p.m. June 8, 2015
A group protesting the shooting death of an unarmed black man by police in South Los Angeles and demanding the dismissal of police Chief Charlie Beck remained camped outside Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Hancock Park residence Monday.
Some members of the group got into an early morning scuffle with the mayor’s security detail when Garcetti was leaving for the airport and a flight to Washington, D.C.
The protesters — outraged over reports that Beck and the Los Angeles Police Department’s independent watchdog have both cleared officers of wrongdoing in the shooting death of Ezell Ford — vowed to remain in place at the mayor’s home, even though he is across the country.
Garcetti, in a statement released by his office before dawn Monday morning, said he had called Ezell Ford’s mother and, failing to reach her, had left a message “telling her my heart goes out to her and her grieving family” and that he looks forward to meeting her in the coming days.
He also said he was confident the city Police Commission, which will review the reports tomorrow on Ford’s death, will “conduct an impartial and fair-minded review of the investigations.”
About 10 to 15 people slept outside Garcetti’s home overnight, according to Sgt. Karima Tahir of the LAPD’s Olympic Station, which had officers stationed outside the residence. The demonstration began Sunday.
The protest was organized by Black Lives Matter – Los Angeles, in response to news reports that Beck and Inspector General Alex Bustamante had found that officers Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas were justified in shooting the 25-year-old Ford on Aug. 11 near 65th Street and Broadway.
Those findings reportedly indicate that Ford was trying to grab the weapon of one of the officers and that Ford’s DNA was found on the officers, along with scratches on the officer’s gun holster.
During the night, a car transporting Garcetti left the mayor’s residence through the back and protesters wanting to speak with him surrounded the vehicle, according to Jasmyne Cannick, a spokeswoman for the protesters. One woman was thrown to the ground by police, she said.
The woman could be seen after sunrise having an animated conversation with an LAPD officer.
Cannick said the demonstrators wanted more than just a prepared statement from the mayor.
“So this is very disheartening to them, right now,” Cannick said. “To know that their mayor was just trying to sneak out the back side of his residence instead of dealing with them.”
There were no arrests, according to the LAPD.
According to Garcetti’s office, the mayor was traveling to Washington, D.C., to meet with federal officials and will be back tomorrow.
Protesters blasted the mayor for leaving the city “during the midst of angst and anger from his African-American constituents on the issue of police brutality and killings.”
Organizers said they notified their counterparts in the Washington, D.C., area that Garcetti was in the area, and gave the mayor’s office contact information for group members on the East Coast — giving Garcetti “no excuse for not meeting with Black Lives Matter before Tuesday’s Police Commission meeting.”
Garcetti aides did not immediately respond to inquiries about which federal officials the mayor is meeting, what he was discussing and when exactly he is scheduled to return to Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Police Commission President Steve Soboroff on Friday disputed any suggestion that a final decision had been made about the officers involved in the shooting, asserting that to say “anything has been decided by anyone is unfair to the Ford family.”
Activists, including Los Angeles Urban Roundtable President Earl Ofari Hutchinson, National Action Network West Coast Political Affairs Director Najee Ali and Voice of the People founder Pedro Baez have been distributing the commission’s phone number and urging residents to make calls to “demand a fair, impartial and transparent finding” regarding the shooting.
Hutchinson called on the commission to delay the discussion until more witnesses to the shooting can be interviewed. Bustamante and LAPD officials have been urging witnesses for months to come forward.
The protesters outside the mayor’s home were joined by Ford’s mother at one point Sunday. They are demanding that Garcetti fire Beck, and they warned that they will work against Garcetti’s re-election if the chief is not replaced.
The protesters also demanded that Tuesday’s police commission vote be held in public and not in closed session, and they want reparations paid to those who have been killed or injured by Los Angeles police, Cannick said.
“They do want to meet with the mayor to tell him this face to face,” Cannick said, adding that the protesters feel Garcetti vanishes when issues affecting the black community erupt, leaving City Council President Herb Wesson, who who is black, to face the music instead.
Ford’s shooting sparked months of protests and calls by community activists for a swift transparent investigation.
Wampler, a 12-year veteran of the LAPD, and Villegas, an eight-year veteran, were both reassigned to administrative duties afterward.
—City News Service