LOS ANGELES_Los Angeles police Wednesday released body camera video and other recordings related to the death of a suspected prowler who clashed with officers in South L.A. last month, marking the first time the department has released such materials under a new policy approved by the Police Commission earlier this year.
For years, the department kept such visual evidence hidden from the public, arguing in part that viewers would be exposed to an incomplete snapshot of an incident. But in March, the LAPD's civilian bosses voted 4-0 to reverse that policy and make videos related to "critical incidents," including those in which a person died as a result of use of force, available to the public after 45 days.
A 17-minute video released Wednesday morning as part of a "community briefing" was compiled from 911 recordings and body camera video taken May 6, during a two-hour standoff between officers from Newton Division and 25-year-old Jose Chavez, who died at an area hospital after he was apprehended.
According to a 911 call, a man, later identified as Chavez, was seen "walking into people's property with a brick" shortly before noon.
Officers can be heard repeatedly asking Chavez if he needs help or medical attention when they approach, but Chavez appears to ignore them, according to body-worn camera video.
"You OK man? People are concerned for you man?" one of the officers can be heard asking.
After several minutes, Chavez became "agitated" and approached the officers, according to Cmdr. Alan Hamilton, who heads the LAPD's Force Investigation Division and narrated much of the video that was presented during the briefing.
Chavez eventually ran onto a porch and knocked on a door, and then picked up a "large metal dustpan" and began swinging it, Hamilton said. Additional officers descended on the scene, and the video shows Chavez inhaling from a bottle of what Hamilton described as "automotive fluid" and then pouring some of the liquid on himself. He later picked up a metal pipe.
Officers fired rounds from a beanbag shotgun at Chavez several times, before eventually deploying a Taser and moving in to arrest him. Chavez continued to struggle after being placed in handcuffs, and his breathing "became labored" and then stopped as officers took him out toward the sidewalk, Hamilton said in the video.
Paramedics were called to the scene. Chavez was pronounced dead at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center less than an hour later.
Police Chief Charlie Beck said he does not believe the less-lethal force used by officers at the scene contributed to Chavez's death, and suggested he may have been under the influence of narcotics. A cause of death remains unknown pending a full toxicology screen, which may not be completed until mid-July, according to Ed Winter, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office.
The public airing of body camera recordings marks a reversal after years of controversy and resistance.
Under the new rules approved by the Police Commission, the civilian panel that oversees the department, the LAPD must now release video related to officer-involved shootings, deaths that occur in LAPD custody or other encounters in which someone is killed or seriously injured.
The video and audio to be released includes images captured by officer-worn cameras and dashboard cameras, 911 recordings and images and video captured by nearby surveillance cameras or bystanders' cellphones.
The LAPD is required to make the recordings available to the public within 45 days, though officials can delay the release of video if the police chief and two commissioners unanimously decide there is a valid and specific reason for doing so. Such delays will be re-evaluated every two weeks and will be subject to a vote by the full Police Commission after 28 days.
Opponents of the policy worry the release of videos in controversial incidents could further inflame tensions between the LAPD and residents or endanger future investigations and prosecutions. Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey and the union that represents rank-and-file police officers were critical of the new policy, saying the release of video should be delayed until after prosecutors finish reviewing criminal cases against officers in use-of-force cases.
Supporters, however, maintain the release of video from such incidents could help make the LAPD more transparent and allay concerns about officer conduct in use-of-force incidents. Delaying the release of video often leaves police and the public to offer competing versions of events after violent encounters.
More than 20 officers responded to the incident involving Chavez. The 17-minute video was compiled from nearly 50 hours of body-worn and dashboard cameras and includes explanations and context from Hamilton and an LAPD spokesman. Additional video could be released when the investigation is completed, Beck said, but it is unlikely the entirety of the collected video will be released to the public.
Beck insisted the information released Wednesday, which was also reviewed by some members of the Police Commission, was not intended to advance a narrative beneficial to the LAPD.
"We will strive to make sure that these things are put forward in a very balanced way that is not skewed toward either the department's position or the defendant's position," he said.
But Luis Carillo, the attorney representing Chavez's family, described the video as "slanted" and questioned why the LAPD didn't include video of Chavez moving from the street where he was first approached by officers to the porch where the standoff ultimately ended.
"There's a big gap in the sequence of events to show whether or not he should have been (struck with a Taser.) Obviously, when they get close, he could harm the officers," Carillo said. "But at a distance, I don't see how he could harm the officers."
Carillo said Chavez was asthmatic, and also questioned if the 25-year-old may have suffered positional asphyxia when officers held him down during the arrest. Carillo also said officers should have called for a mental health response team sooner. He acknowledged he was unaware whether Chavez actually suffered from a mental illness.
Police said Chavez had previously been arrested on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, battery causing great bodily injury, resisting arrest and drug possession.
Beck warned that the videos would probably prompt visceral reactions from the public, as they depict "policing at its rawest."
"You will see things that you have not seen before, and unfortunately, things that I think nobody should have to see," he said. "Not because there are police officers doing something wrong, but because policing is such a difficult profession and police officers have to deal with things that nobody should have to deal with."
