Photo: David McNew / Getty Images
Leonel Chávez’s family lawyer, the young man from 24 years that he died after being shot seven times by a highway patrol officer in Los Angeles, he assured in an interview with Noticias Telemundo that Chávez was not armed at the time of the incident that occurred last 28 of September, as shown in a video published this Monday.
Attorney Christian Contreras said the video they posted, filmed by a business owner, proves it. “ Leonel had neither a gun nor a knife. He posed no threat to either the public or the officers. They had no justification for using this kind of lethal force, ”he explained.
The officers, according to him, “escalated from a situation that was nothing more than a collision of two cars to the death of Leonel.”
Chávez was returning from the gym, on his way home, when he crashed His Honda Civic against a Chevrolet Camaro at the intersection of Indiana and Medford streets in the El Sereno neighborhood of East Los Angeles.
Two agents from the California Highway Patrol (CHP) arrived there on 28 September, after receiving a call around 3: 15 pm reporting the accident , as reported by the Los Angeles Times.
CHP officer Robert Ruiz confirmed the call and time of the incident at a press conference last week, but did not offer any details on what caused the shooting or why the agents proceeded that way.
It also did not say if Chávez was armed or if a weapon was found at the scene , as reported by the local television network Fox 11.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta also announced last week that he has already launched an investigation into Chávez’s death.
Family files criminal charges against police
Leonel Chávez was a security guard who lived in the Ramona Gardens urbanization, he attended a community college and liked to go to the gym.
Contreras said that in fact ho he and his colleague Humberto Guizar, who is also in charge of the case, met him there. “ He was a good boy, he didn’t have a crime record. He did not drink or use drugs ”, he detailed.
Dalilia Méndez, a witness who spoke to the Los Angeles Times, said she thought Chávez “was a little drunk.” That is why he stumbled and that was when the agents shot him.
Contreras spoke with that same witness and asked if she was sure of what saw. “He told me he had no evidence,” said the lawyer. “I’m not saying it can’t be true, but there is no evidence to support it. His family also says nothing that none of that was part of his character. ”
He added, however, that the agents left Chávez lying down and that before shooting him they had attacked him with a stun gun ( taser , in English), according to other witnesses.
“I want justice, I want them to punish the policeman who killed my son … and criminal charges,” said Maritza Padilla, Chávez’s mother, in an interview with Noticias Telemundo. “I am dead, they gave me great pain.”
Contreras confirmed that they are demanding that the Los Angeles district attorney, George Gascón, to file criminal charges against the officers who killed the young man “without justification.”
This Saturday, October 9, at 1: 00 pm (local time), a demonstration is planned in front of the Department of the California Highway Patrol to demand justice for Leonel Chávez.
By Óscar Molina V.