Los Angeles Sheriff Expressed “Serious Concern” Over Fatal Shooting Involving His Deputies Caught On Body Camera



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His department released a highly edited compilation of some of the footage, as well as parts of a 911 call during a critical incident briefing on Friday just days after David Ordaz Jr.’s family filed a complaint for wrongful death against four MPs and Los Angeles County. CNN has requested all of the raw body camera images and a copy of the coroner’s report.

The trial named Sheriff’s deputies Edwin Navarrete, Remin Piñeda, Jaime Romero and Nathaniel Trujillo as accused. The sheriff’s office confirmed the four were involved in the shooting in a summary of the incident.

Villanueva said one of the MPs had been removed from his post and his powers as a peace officer were suspended, pending the outcome of an investigation. But he did not say which of the four MPs named in the lawsuit had been suspended or why, and the sheriff’s department said it was unable to comment on the case.

It is not clear from court documents whether officers are represented by lawyers. The MPs union, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Professional Association, declined to comment, saying they do not represent the MPs involved. Los Angeles County legal counsel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The man said he was suicidal

In an excerpt from the March 14 911 call released by the ministry, a woman tells a dispatcher that she needs help because she is sitting in a car with her brother, Ordaz, who she says , is suicidal. She asks the dispatcher for advice on how to help her.

When the dispatcher asked the sister if her brother had any weapons. An unintelligible conversation between the two ensues. The sister then confirms that her brother has a knife, which she later describes as an “ordinary kitchen knife”.

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Later in the conversation, Ordaz steps in to say he has a “big butt butcher’s knife.”

The sister also told the dispatcher that Ordaz had a history of drug abuse. She said she believed he was using methamphetamine and had been having suicidal thoughts “for some time.”

“He also talked about cop suicide, so I’m scared about that,” she said.

MPs who responded to the east Los Angeles scene have called for less lethal weapons and a Mental Assessment Team (MET), according to the Sheriff’s Department. When they arrived just before 2 p.m., they found Ordaz sitting in a car outside his home, according to information included in the edited video released during Friday’s briefing.

Body camera footage shows MPs ordering Ordaz to get out of the car. He complied but he can be seen holding a knife in his right hand. MPs repeatedly asked Ordaz to drop the knife, but he did not comply and told MPs to shoot him, according to information in the edited video.

The department claims deputies detained Ordaz at gunpoint in the street while awaiting reinforcements, a supervisor and the mental assessment team, according to information in the video.

In the video, a member of Parliament is heard saying, “We’re not here to shoot you, man, we’re here to help you.”

Another MP asked Ordaz why he was upset.

“Because you won’t shoot the king,” Ordaz can be heard saying, although blasphemy is beeped in the video edited by the department.

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Body camera footage shows Ordaz walking behind his car to the sidewalk in front of the house where several family members are standing outside.

MPs told family members to come back because they were in “crossfire”.

As Ordaz moved closer to MPs, at least one MP fired less lethal stun bullets at Ordaz.

In body-worn camera footage, Ordaz is seen tripping past the stun bag rounds, then appearing to run forward. The deputies opened fire by shooting at him several times as screams could be heard from his family in the front yard.

Paramedics responded to the scene and transported Ordaz to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The incident is still under investigation

It is not known whether the four MPs fired at Ordaz or how many shots were fired, and the sheriff’s department did not respond to CNN’s request for information.

MPs recovered a 12-inch-long kitchen knife, according to the sheriff’s office summary of the incident.

The summary says Ordaz “quickly changed direction and walked towards MPs while still holding the knife,” but family members who lodged the complaint say that’s not what happened. has passed.

The lawsuit says Ordaz “turned to flee on the sidewalk” and did not come to the deputies. He says the coroner’s report shows that all but two of the bullets that hit Ordaz hit him in the back or side and notes that the video shows a “helpless” Ordaz “looking up from the sidewalk without any weapon “like” the death shot was fired in his chest. “

According to CNN affiliate KCAL / KCBS, Ordaz’s family posted a video on their cellphone of his death which they believe supports their claim. CNN has contacted lawyers for the family for a copy of the video.

The lawsuit says that Ordaz “was not in his common sense and required special care and handling to avoid injury”, and alleges that “such care and handling was not provided by the defendants, and instead the defendants used unjustifiable lethal force, “killing Ordaz.

According to the sheriff’s office, homicide investigators are investigating Ordaz’s death and will send their findings to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, which will determine whether the use of force by MPs broke the laws.

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