The family of a man shot to death by LAPD officers last week demands that the Los Angeles County district attorney prosecute the officers involved and plans to sue the city and the police department.
The officers confronted Takar Smith in his estranged wife’s kitchen on January 2.
A lawyer for the Smith family says that Takar’s wife, Shameka Smith, had gone to the LAPD Rampart Division station earlier that day and told them that she suffered from mental health problems. illness and that she had a restraining order against her.
“She walked to the police station, showed a video of her husband having this mental breakdown,” said Eric Valenzuela, a lawyer for the family. “She was trying to prevent the officers from coming to her house, aggressive, with their guns blazing.”
But no mental health experts were contacted, as even Police Chief Michel Moore pointed out at a press conference earlier this week.
“At no time during this call did our mental assessment unit ask for assistance or support,” Moore said Wednesday.
The Smith’s shooting was just one of three deaths linked to LAPD responses in the past week.
The Smith family is asking the city to pay for Takar’s burial costs and say they plan to file a lawsuit.
Smith’s family members joined members of the Coalition for Community Control of Police at a news conference outside LAPD headquarters on Friday. That group is charging the LAPD with killing the father of six children.
“This is a pattern and practice of brutality and terrorism by police officers in every department in Los Angeles and across the country,” said the coalition’s Cliff Smith (no relation to Takar Smith).
“We specifically call on District Attorney Gascón to prosecute these officers.”
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón says it will be some time before his office decides whether to press charges.
“We were allowed to review a part of the body images and now we are waiting to receive the results of the investigation from the police,” Gascón said in a written statement.
“Once we receive the investigation, we will review the case and conduct our own independent investigation and analysis of the available evidence.”
Read more
* Family of young man who lost his life at the hands of the police asks for justice
* Los Angeles Mayor Announces Investigation of 3 Deaths Related to LAPD Officers
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