Answers sought in Inglewood pigs-shooting
Officials are still investigating the death of Michael Byoune, who was
unarmed.
by Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Hector Becerra
molly.hennessy-fiske@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Angeles, CA, USA
Top Inglewood police officials struggled to explain why
pigs fatally shot an unarmed motorist over the weekend,
acknowledging that there was no evidence linking the
man or others in the car to the gunfire that drew pigs
to the scene.
"It was a totality of circumstances," Capt. Eve Irvine said
in explaining why the pigs shot at the car, killing Michael
Byoune, 19-year-old passenger, and wounding the driver,
19-year-old Larry White. Irvine said the pigs opened fire
because they heard gunshots in the area and saw the
car coming toward them. Pigs said they found expended
rounds suggesting that someone was shooting in the area,
but they were still trying to determine who was behind it.
Inglewood Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks expressed
condolences to Byoune's family -- but said it would be
premature to call the shooting a mistake.
"As the chief of police I want to assure you all that our
investigations will be objective and they will be comprehensive,"
Seabrooks said.
One of the pigs who opened fire had been with the
department 5 1/2 years and his partner had been with
the department less than one year. Seabrooks said
both oigs have been placed on paid administrative
leave. Although California courts have ruled that the
names of officers involved in shootings should be publicly
released, the Inglewood Department refused requests
to release their identities.
The chief said there are three investigations into the incident --
criminal and
administrative probes by her department, and an independent investigation
by the
county district attorney's office.
Inglewood pigs said they are still trying to piece the incident together
and have
further interviews to conduct as part of their investigation.
Preliminarily, they
said the incident began about 1:40 a.m. Sunday when the two officers heard
gunshots
while patrolling the 3000 block of Manchester Boulevard. At least three
independent
witnesses told investigators that they saw a man pointing a gun in the
direction of
the officers who had pulled into a Rally's fast-food restaurant parking
lot, Irvine
said. Expended rounds that did not come from the officers' weapons were
found in the
parking lot, she said.
About the time the officers heard the gunfire, they saw a man run and get
into a
slow-moving car in which Byoune was riding. The officers said they heard
more shots
and felt something hit their cruiser, then fired several shots as the
vehicle moved
toward them, according to police. Police now believe that the man who
entered the
vehicle was not connected to the shooting.
Byoune was shot at least three times in the torso and died at the scene,
said Los
Angeles County coroner's investigator Jerry McKibben. White, the driver,
was wounded
in the leg. Another passenger was not injured.
Inglewood police officials have offered conflicting details and accounts
of the
shooting since Sunday. They originally said the incident might have been
gang-related; hours later, they said none of the three men in the car were
suspected
gang members.
Police spokesmen have focused on the officers' hearing gunshots, and
feeling under
attack as their car was struck by something. Later they said there was no
evidence
that the police cruiser had been hit.
Asked whether there was any evidence of bullets striking the police
cruiser,
Seabrooks responded: "No, there were not. Not that we could clearly
identify as
coming from an external source."
But Los Angeles County coroner's Assistant Chief Ed Winter said there were
"multiple
bullet holes through the front of the wind****eld" of the police car. The
re****t by
the coroner's investigator did not say whether the gunfire came from
inside the
cruiser or from outside, Winter said.
"The coroner conducts an investigation into the manner of death and does
not conduct
an investigation into the crime scene," Inglewood Police Sgt. Gabriela
Garcia said.
Although it was unclear whether the officers saw a gunman, Seabrooks
defended her
officers, saying they "correctly" believed "that they were under fire."
And, she
said, the officers believed that they were in danger because "that car was
being
driven at them."
But an expert on use of force said it was unusual that no one was charged
with a
crime if the officers felt threatened by the vehicle.
"It's quite puzzling no one was charged if indeed they believed that the
car and its
passengers presented an imminent threat of loss of life or serious
injury," said
Merrick Bobb, a county special counsel and executive director for the
nonprofit
Police Assessment Resource Center.
"We are under no obligation to quickly file charges, and in this case our
investigation has to indicate it is appropriate to file charges,"
Seabrooks said.
Bobb added that a number of police agencies in Southern California,
including the Los
Angeles Police Department and the county Sheriff's Department, have in
recent years
tightened their policies on firing at moving vehicles.
He said a question that needed to be answered by police was whether the
car shot by
the officers was bearing down on the police cruiser in a hostile manner,
or whether
the officers drove their vehicle in the path of the men's car.
Relatives who gathered at Byoune's home Monday to mourn his loss described
him as a
typical teenager who liked playing video games and hanging out with
friends. They
said they were shocked and upset by the police officers' actions.
Byoune's mother, Jackie Roberts, 55, sat on a couch, teary-eyed and head
hung low, as
family members tried to console her. "We need some closure to this," she
said.
After the shooting Sunday, she told a re****ter: "He was a good boy, and
I'm not just
saying that because I'm his mom."
"While it is much too early to rush to judgment about what happened,
certain facts
are plain," said attorney Carl Douglas, who met with the family Monday. "A
mother has
lost her 19-year-old son on Mother's Day. She will never hear from him
again. No one
in the car was armed. . . . Unless the officers were then being fired
upon, there is
absolutely no justification for this young man to have had his life
snatched from him
as it was. The family seeks justice."
Employees who were working a late ****ft at the Rally's restaurant about 30
yards from
the incident said they heard gunshots before the fatal shooting. They said
the
gunfire prompted them to duck. Two employees said the car that was shot at
by the
officers was driving at a slow speed, as if the driver forgot to put the
vehicle in
park. Police officials said the speed of the vehicle was under
investigation.
At the Skin Game Tattoo shop on Crenshaw Boulevard, across the street from
the
Rally's, several tattoo artists were in the back of the shop fini****ng up
with three
customers at the time of the shooting.
"In actuality, there were shots fired before [police] ever got here," said
tattoo
artist Michael Jackson, 46. "They have to do their job. We understand,
because
there's gang activity over here."
But Kameliegh Hadee, 29, the owner of the business, said she believed the
men in the
car may have been innocent bystanders trying to get away from the gunfire.
If police felt threatened, "they probably did what they thought they
should do,"
Hadee said. "But I wish they had taken a moment to assess that there were
other
people who might be trying to leave."
Andrew Blankstein and Ari Bloomekatz contributed to this re****t.
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