Photo: LDPA Los Angeles video capture / Courtesy
A police officer from Los Angeles shot a man in Westlake after the Hispanic man identified as Samuel Ponce, will throw a hammer at a group of officers who had followed him on foot for several blocks and fired hard foam projectiles at him, according to the video of the incident that occurred on last March .
The video images, recorded by the body cameras of the officers and published on the YouTube channel of the Los Angeles Police Department , included radio conversations from the beginning of the encounter. Officers argued that they suspected the man, later identified as Samuel Ponce, was mentally ill or intoxicated.
The video of the shooting shows that the officers at first they kept their distance as they followed him.
At one point, one of the officers asked if they should try to stop Ponce to which the supervisor responded quickly: “ No, no “.
Instead, the police fired projectiles as he continued walking, passing between police vehicles and bystanders.
The situation got more tense as the projectiles They didn’t stop him.
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After being hit with a projectile , and apparently with a taser, Ponce kept walking away from the officers.
“Heavenly Father, help me,” said Ponce in Spanish.
Shortly after, the supervisor told the group of officers to “ flank ” to Ponce , and they approached him quickly.
It was then that Ponce circled a truck parked on the street and threw the hammer at officers from a close distance. Ponce lifted a second object and it was at that moment that at least one officer fired the taser while another shot Ponce with his pistol and was then that Ponce fell to the ground.
! Shots!” the officer said.
LAPD officials said they recovered a hammer and “a rear-mounted bicycle kickstand” from the scene of the shooting
The Ponce shooting remains under investigation. After an internal review by LAPD , it will be presented to the Commission of cop, who will vote if the tactics and shooting were within the policy of LAPD .
The dissemination of the video occurs in the middle of the discussion that changes are needed in the way in which the official handle calls involving people showing signs of mental illness or abuse of substances .
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