The Los Angeles Police Commission determined that an officer’s fatal 2015 shooting of an unarmed homeless man was unjustified, renewing calls for prosecutors to bring charges against the officer.
Members of the Los Angeles Police Department’s civilian oversight board unanimously concluded Tuesday during a closed-door meeting that Officer Clifford Proctor violated official policy when he fired his gun at Brendon Glenn, 29, near the Venice boardwalk while responding to a disturbance call in May.
Officer Proctor claimed he opened fire when he saw a visibly intoxicated Glenn reach for his partner’s gun, but a police report cited by the Los Angeles Times indicates a nearby surveillance camera showed otherwise.
“At no time during the incident can Glenn’s hand be observed on or near any portion of (the) holster,” reads a portion of the report sent by LAPD Chief Charlie Beck to the Board of Police Commission.
The police chief said the board’s decision to unanimously adopt his report, which recommends charges be brought against the officer, “certainly supports” what he told the district attorney.
“I find many times that shootings are out of policy and they don’t reflect criminal charges,” he told the Times. “But that’s not the case in this one.”
Chief Beck said there was no evidence “that a deadly threat was present.”
V. James DeSimone, an attorney representing the Glenn family in wrongful-death lawsuits against the city, told the Times the report “confirms our belief that this was a bad shooting.”
“Simply put, without the video there would most likely be no call for this officer’s prosecution or for a finding that this officer was out of policy,” he said.
In January, Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said it was her “ethical obligation to remain impartial until a thorough and independent investigation is completed by my office.”
“Decisions on whether or not to file criminal charges will be based solely on the facts and the law — not on emotion, anger or external pressure,” she said.
Thirty-six people were shot by on-duty LAPD officers last year, 21 fatally, the Times reported.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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