The people have spoken, and it appears that their message was heard loud and clear. After months of protests, mostly by Black residents of Los Angeles, the Police Commission, which is a civilian panel that oversees the Los Angeles Police Department, met behind closed doors after hearing from the protesters.
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck found that the two officers who fatally shot Ford on August 11 of last year were justified in their actions, and he recommended that the commission clear both of them of any wrong doing.
The Tuesday morning meeting of the Los Angeles Police Commission featured some extremely tense moments, as it appeared to be the Black community vs. the LAPD.
“Commissioners, we officially ask that you reject the recommendations made by Chief [Charlie] Beck,” said Najee Ali, a community activist. “We believe that those recommendations are out of line, and until this day there has been no justification told to the community about why Ezell Ford was stopped to begin with. As far as I’m concerned, Ezell Ford’s shooting death by the LAPD was something that could have been prevented had he not been stopped to begin with.”
This case comes on the heels of a number of similar incidents where Black people around the country were killed by police officers, which led to the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement.
“I think it’s outrageous that these police killings are being swept under the rug in this town and in every other town in this country,” said a member of the Martin Luther King Jr. Coalition of Greater Los Angeles. “The double standards … we know that if Ezell Ford had been a young White man on the Westside, and the same thing had happened, the whole city would have been in an uproar right now.
“We have hundreds, thousands of people in our community who have been deprived of love ones, of something called life, liberties, and the pursuit of happiness. It has got to come to an end. Period.”
Many of the protesters gave passionate pleas to the Police Commission to find the two officers at fault, and a number of speakers called for Chief Beck to be fired, along with the two officers who were involved in the shooting.
The forum became so heated that it was abruptly ended, and the commission left to hold a closed-door door meeting. After several hours, they made a unanimous decision that one of the officers acted in an unlawful manner by using deadly force, while the other officer did not violate department policy.
Ford was approached by the officers near 65th Street and Broadway. Reportedly, one of the officers physically attempted to restrain him, and the officer claimed that Ford fought him for his gun. Ford was then shot in his side and back. Since the shooting, the LAPD has not explained why the two officers in question confronted Ford.
A source familiar with the investigation told the L.A. Times that the officers were suspicious that Ford was in possession of drugs because he was seen walking away from a group of people, and then into an alley which is known for drug use, and that was reflected in Beck’s report. However, no drugs were found on or near Ford, and the inspector general, Alex Bustamante, told the L.A. Times’ that the officers acknowledge that they never witnessed Ford interact with the group.
Chief Beck is the only person authorized to discipline the officers.
As he prepares for the federal trial in the Ezell Ford wrongful death trial expected to begin Sept.1, attorney Steven A. Lerman will not speculate on what legal impact, if any, the finding of the Los Angeles Police Commission may have on his client’s case.
Lerman said he knew there were seeds of discontent between the commission and Police Chief Charlie Beck’s role of following the organization line of trying to exonerate the two officers. He also felt Commission President Steve Soboroff was trying to make sense of the shooting, which he said is the first case to come before the board since new stantards were put in place.
Lerman does not see Chief Beck making any major rulings, but expects it will be “business as usual” with the officer retaining his job, working the desk for a period.
“I think they should be fired and prosecuted by the Justice Department for violation of Mr. Ford’s rights,” said Lerman.
