The results of the autopsy on the body of a 25-year-old man shot by police in South Los Angeles will be released before the Dec. 31 deadline set by Mayor Eric Garcetti, the mayor said this week.
The post-mortem examination on Ezell Ford has been on a security hold at the request of the Los Angeles Police Department while the investigation into the Aug. 11 shooting continued.
“I’m confident (the release of the autopsy report) will be before the end of the year,” Garcetti said during KNX 1070 Newsradio’s “Ask the Mayor” show. “We won’t be waiting until Dec. 31.”
“I think we’ll see it before the end of the year, probably in the next week or two,” he said.
Police Chief Charlie Beck said last week that no new witnesses of the shooting have come forward.
Civil rights activists have accused the police of foot-dragging in releasing information about the case.
Garcetti said he ordered the LAPD to release the autopsy by the end of the year because the information is “important to the family and to the community.”
Days after the shooting in the 200 block of West 65th Street, Los Angeles police said Ford tackled one of the officers and reached for the officer’s gun, prompting Officers Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas to open fire.
Police said the officers were approaching Ford, who was making “suspicious movements,” when he turned and “grabbed one of the officers.”
“During the struggle, they fell to the ground and the individual (Ford) tried to remove the officer’s handgun from its holster,” according to the LAPD. “The partner officer then fired his handgun and the officer on the ground fired his backup weapon at the individual.”
Ford’s family filed a $75 million federal lawsuit against the city in September, contending that Ford was shot while complying with police orders to lay on the ground.
The family’s attorney, Steven Lerman, said Ford was “mentally challenged,” a fact known to the officers, and was not doing anything wrong when he was stopped. He also alleged the two officers involved in the shooting were “poorly trained” and have a documented “pattern and practice” of reckless conduct on the streets.
“These were rogue officers who knew everyone on that block,” Lerman said when he filed the suit. “This poorly disabled man became a victim of these officers.”
The shooting touched off several protests and calls for a speedy and transparent investigation. Activists have contended that eyewitnesses dispute the police account of events.
Officials said witnesses can come forward by calling the District Attorney’s Office at (213) 974-3608, the Office of the Inspector General at (213) 482-6833, as well as the LAPD at (877) LAPD-24-7 or (800) 222-TIPS.
