Skip to content
Advertisement

Mentally ill man shot, killed by police

Advertisement
 (27730)

A 25-year-old Los Angeles man was mortally wounded Monday evening by LAPD officers whom witnesses said ordered him to the ground and, after complying, fired upon him allegedly striking him in the back. Evell Ford Jr., who reportedly  suffered from bipolar disorder, was rushed to California Medical Center at about 8:10 p.m. and later died during surgery.

“For about a week the police have been stopping and harassing my son,” said Tritovia Ford who was informed of the shooting and rushed to the downtown medical facility where her son was pronounced dead. Though she was not a witness to the altercation, Ford said three persons near the shooting at 65th Street and Broadway Avenue said they heard the man say repeatedly “I don’t have anything. I don’t have anything” while lying on the ground in the process of being handcuffed.

“Neither the police at the scene or the doctors at the hospital would tell me anything,” Ford said. “When I got to the hospital, doctors first told me that they were instructed not to comment on his condition. Only later a doctor came out and said my son was dead.”

Ford said her son was on his medication and would frequently walk within his neighborhood and has been stopped before. “The regular patrolmen knew my son; they’d stop him now and then but he never had any weapons, drugs or anything on him. This time we believe some officers new to this area thought he was a threat and they killed him. All he was doing was walking on the sidewalk…he was not harassing, panhandling or threatening anyone.

The Ford family is considering legal action and on Tuesday morning were planning a prayer vigil for Ford.

In Compton, another mentally disabled man, 29-year-old Barry Montgomer at Enterprise Park playing basketball was allegedly surrounded, handcuffed and beaten for 25 minutes by approximately 20 L.A. Sheriff deputies. The alledged beating caused massive permanent injuries.

According to the Compton branch of the NAACP President Paulette Simpson-Gipson, “We will provide to the press multiple photos as well as video of Barry’s injuries, including but not limited to : seven broken ribs, facial fractures, a broken orbital, multiple baton and Taser injuries, among others!

“We see no justification to the brutality inflicted to Mr. Barry Montgomery,” says Simpson-Gipson. “The Compton NAACP is calling for a fast track investigation not just to this incident but to other’s as well that have been inflicted on people of color excessively by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.”

Advertisement

Latest