LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Latest on a district attorney’s decision not to bring criminal charges against two Los Angeles police officers who shot and killed a man in 2014 (all times local):
6:20 p.m.
The union representing two Los Angeles police officers who fatally shot a mentally ill black man during a struggle in 2014 says it agrees with a district attorney’s determination that the officers acted lawfully.
The Los Angeles Police Protective League says in a statement Tuesday that no officer wants to be in a struggle for their gun. The union says officers must be allowed to protect themselves and the public.
Prosecutors announced Tuesday the two officers acted in self-defense when they fatally shot 25-year-old Ezell Ford in November 2014.
Prosecutors said Ezell Ford had been struggling for an officer’s holstered gun when he was killed. A police oversight board had found the officers had no reason to stop Ford, violating department policy.
The LAPD says both officers are working in an “administrative capacity.”
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3 p.m.
The mother of a black, mentally ill man who was killed by Los Angeles police during a struggle over an officer’s gun says “there will be no justice” after prosecutors declined to bring criminal charges against the officers who fatally shot him.
Tritobia Ford told reporters Tuesday she can’t understand why prosecutors didn’t bring charges in the August 2014 shooting death of her son Ezell.
She says Ezell, who had a history of mental illness, “was murdered” by the officers. She called the shooting “unjustified.”
Prosecutors said Ezell Ford had been struggling for an officer’s holstered gun when he was killed. District Attorney Jackie Lacey said the officers acted in self-defense.
The city Police Commission found the officers had no reason to question Ford, and that violated policy.
Ford’s shooting led to several Black Lives Matter protests.
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1:40 p.m.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney says she called the mother of a black man who was fatally shot by police in 2014 to tell her prosecutors will not be file criminal charges against the two officers who shot him.
District Attorney Jackie Lacey says Tuesday that she called Ezell Ford’s mother to explain the findings of her office’s investigation. She says Ford’s mother was upset and that it felt “like she was reliving it all over again.”
Ford was shot and killed in August 2014 by two Los Angeles Police Department officers during a struggle for an officer’s gun. The shooting prompted Black Lives Matter protests.
Lacey’s office announced Tuesday the officers were legally justified in the shooting. She says physical evidence and DNA strongly supported the officers’ account of what happened.
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11:35 a.m.
Prosecutors will not file criminal charges against two Los Angeles police officers who shot and killed a man in 2014 during a struggle over an officer’s gun.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday that the officers acted lawfully and in self-defense when they shot 25-year-old Ezell Ford in August 2014. The killing of Ford, who was black, led to Black Lives Matter protests.
Police say Ford knocked an officer to the ground and tried to grab his gun.
A district attorney’s report says Officers Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas feared for their lives when they fired.
The city Police Commission found the officers had no reason to stop and question Ford, and that policy violation led to an altercation that ended with Ford’s death.
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