Feb. 03--The Los Angeles Police Commission decided Tuesday that officers did not violate deadly force policies when they fatally shot a homeless man on skid row last year but did fault another officer in a fatal shooting days later following a car chase into Burbank.
Homeless rights advocates and other activists reacted angrily to the commission's decision to find the use of deadly force in the March 1 killing of Charly Leundeu Keunang within policy. The shooting captured international attention after a bystander posted video of the incident on Facebook.
The March 5 death of Sergio Navas was publicly overshadowed by the skid row killing but quickly raised concerns within the LAPD. Navas, a 35-year-old father of three, was unarmed when he was shot following a pursuit that ended in Burbank.
The shooting of Keunang, 43, came during heightened scrutiny of police shootings across the country, particularly those of black men.
Before the commission reached its decision, activists packed Tuesday's meeting. They repeatedly referenced the death of Keunang -- who was known on skid row as "Africa" -- as they addressed the board, calling on commissioners to fault the officers who shot him.
"Do the right thing," one said as the commissioners filed out of the room.
"Can't kill Africa," the room began to chant. "Can't kill Africa."
A dozen activists remained in the room as the commissioners spent hours deliberating behind closed doors. They were visibly restless as the panel's president, Matthew Johnson, began outlining the commission's decision.
"To the family and friends of Mr. Keunang, my fellow Police Commissioners and I extend our sincere sympathies for your profound loss," he said. "There is no greater sadness a family can bear."
That restlessness turned to outrage almost immediately after Johnson said the officers who shot Keunang had not violated LAPD policies.
"How do you justify that?" asked General Jeff Page, a skid row activist who was in the room. "This is the result I've got to take back to my community and skid row."
Outside LAPD headquarters, Page continued to criticize the board's ruling, pointing to dramatic video of the shooting that went viral last year and autopsy results that showed Keunang was shot six times. The decision, he said, hurt the already-tense relationship between some skid row residents and police.
"It's worse than reinforcing -- it creates an even stronger divide," he said. "Obviously there's a disconnect in terms of what we're seeing and what they're deciding."
The sergeant and officers involved in Keunang's death have returned to active duty, according to an LAPD spokeswoman. The officer who shot Navas remains on administrative duty.
The district attorney's office has yet to decide if the officers involved in either shooting will face criminal charges.
City officials repeatedly referred to Keunang's death as a tragedy, but stopped short of criticizing the officers' actions despite palpable rage from the community.
"This one was obviously made more difficult by the times we live in and by the outcome -- which was sad, certainly," said Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck. "But I also recognize how hard police officers' jobs are. And they have a right to defend themselves. ... It's the sad reality of policing that we need to deal with."
Beck said the department will re-examine how officers are trained for situations involving the mentally ill.
Asked about the officer involved in the Navas shooting, he declined to say if he believed criminal charges should be filed.
Prosecutors have not brought criminal charges against an LAPD officer for an on-duty shooting since 2001. Earlier this year, Beck did recommend criminal charges against an officer who shot and killed a homeless man in Venice Beach.
"The violent end to a man's life is always tragic, and I understand there will be many points of view about today's decision by the Board of Police Commissioners," Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement. "Charly Keunang's death has been particularly painful for many in our city. The events that led to it drew a bright red line from our homelessness crisis to some of the most difficult tasks that we ask the men and women of the LAPD to perform every day.
The video of Keunang's death, which drew millions of views, was posted shortly after the shooting occurred and shows a group of officers getting into a scuffle with a man -- later identified as Keunang -- standing on a sidewalk littered with tents and other debris. The man ultimately ends up on the ground after wrestling with four of the officers. What appears to be one of the officers is heard saying, "Drop the gun. Drop the gun."
Five gunshots can then be heard on the recording as two officers and a sergeant open fire. Keunang died at the scene.
A coroner's report showed Keunang was shot six times, including twice by a gun pressed against his body. An autopsy showed he had meth in his system.
Concern and criticism quickly mounted as the Facebook video went viral, amplified by the long-standing complaints by skid row residents and advocates who say police use heavy-handed tactics against a population plagued by mental illness and drug use. Steve Soboroff, then-president of the Police Commission, said his "heart just started pounding" as he watched the video. The American Civil Liberties Union said it was "extremely troubled."
City officials scrambled to respond. Mayor Eric Garcetti called for calm. A day after the shooting, Beck called a news conference and stood by enlarged photos of what the chief said showed Keunang grabbing a rookie officer's holstered gun.
At the time, Beck called the shooting "a tragedy" but also "a very intense situation and a brutal, brutal fight."
The incident began about noon that Sunday, when three officers and a sergeant responded to a robbery call in the 500 block of South San Pedro Street, the LAPD said. The man, Beck said, "repeatedly refused to comply with officers' commands and then began to fight."
As the officers struggled on the ground to subdue him, Beck said, he "forcibly grabbed" the rookie officer's gun. As that officer yelled, "He has my gun!" the chief said, two other officers and the sergeant opened fire.
The sergeant and one of the officers -- who were assigned to the Safer Cities Initiative, an LAPD task force specifically focused on skid row -- were wearing body cameras at the time of the shooting. That video has not been made public. However, a review of the recording by The Times showed one of the officers repeatedly threatened to use a Taser while Keunang was talking to the officers before the shooting.
The Times reported that the body camera recording shows Keunang repeatedly telling the officers to "let me express myself" after he was ordered to submit to arrest. "You don't tell me how to do my job," an officer replies. "We're going to do this my way."
At one point, Keunang went back into his tent. "Leave me alone," he says.
"You gotta figure out what's going on," another officer responds. "C'mon bro, just relax, OK? Step outside."
"OK," Keunang says.
The recording then shows the officers pull the tent open and one officer firing the Taser. Keunang jumps out of the tent spinning and flailing wildly toward the officers, his arms outstretched and palms open. Police officials later said that the Taser "was not effective."
While the commission concluded that the use of deadly force was within policy, the panel found that the rookie officer's tactics were not.
Keunang was one of 21 people fatally shot by on-duty LAPD officers in 2015.
Keunang was a native of Cameroon and a once-promising math and physics student. His name has become a rallying cry as local activists, including those affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement, have criticized the LAPD for police shootings.
Authorities said Keunang previously assumed a French man's identity and used it to acquire a French passport to come to the U.S. in the late 1990s. Under that assumed identity, he was convicted of robbing a Thousand Oaks bank in 2000 and spent nearly 15 years in prison. He was released from custody in November 2013.
Keunang's sister and their parents filed a $20-million claim against the city, followed by a civil lawsuit, alleging the officers initiated the struggle with Keunang and describing his death as a "cop-created killing." Lawyers for the family also called on L.A. County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey to criminally charge the officers and sergeant who opened fire.
The LAPD previously identified those who fired as Sgt. Chand Syed and Officers Francisco Martinez and Daniel Torres. Before Keunang's death, police officials said, the sergeant and officers had never before fired their weapons while on duty.
The events leading up to the shooting of Navas four days later began in North Hollywood, where police say two LAPD officers noticed a gold Mercury Sable driving erratically. The car had paper plates, the LAPD said, and police later learned it was stolen.
The officers tried to pull the car over, the LAPD said, but the vehicle sped off, ultimately crossing into Burbank. Six minutes later, the chase ended when the car turned onto National Avenue, a short residential street that ends in a cul-de-sac.
There, police said, the two vehicles collided and came to a stop alongside each other. Officer Brian Van Gorden, who was sitting in the police SUV's passenger seat, opened fire, striking Navas as he sat in the driver's seat of the other car.
Navas got out of the vehicle and ran, collapsing in an alley about 80 feet away. One gunshot hit his arm, according to a coroner's report. The second bullet -- the fatal shot -- tore through his chest and lodged into his spine.
Navas was one of 21 people fatally shot by on-duty LAPD officers in 2015.
His family has filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles, alleging Van Gorden used excessive force when he shot Navas. The lawsuit alleged the officers "had no confirmation" that Navas had committed a crime and used improper tactics in stopping their police SUV so closely to the vehicle Navas was driving.
Navas, the lawsuit alleged, posed no threat when Van Gorden opened fire "without any warning."
Times staff writers Gale Holland and James Queally contributed to this report.
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