On 14 mai, 16:35, "_ G O D _" <DEMI...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Answers sought in Inglewood pigs-shooting
> Officials are still investigating the death of Michael Byoune, who was
una=
rmed.
> by Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Hector Becerra
> molly.hennessy-fi...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
hector.bece...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Los 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 cir***stances," 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 --
crimina=
l 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
a=
nd have
> further interviews to conduct as part of their investigation.
Preliminaril=
y, 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
in=
dependent
> witnesses told investigators that they saw a man pointing a gun in the
dir=
ection of
> the officers who had pulled into a Rally's fast-food restaurant parking
lo=
t, Irvine
> said. Expended rounds that did not come from the officers' weapons were
fo=
und 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
m=
ore shots
> and felt something hit their cruiser, then fired several shots as the
vehi=
cle moved
> toward them, according to police. Police now believe that the man who
ente=
red the
> vehicle was not connected to the shooting.
> Byoune was shot at least three times in the torso and died at the scene,
s=
aid Los
> Angeles County coroner's investigator Jerry McKibben. White, the driver,
w=
as wounded
> in the leg. Another passenger was not injured.
> Inglewood police officials have offered conflicting details and accounts
o=
f 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
feeli=
ng 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
cruise=
r,
> Seabrooks responded: "No, there were not. Not that we could clearly
identi=
fy 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
r=
e****t by
> the coroner's investigator did not say whether the gunfire came from
insid=
e the
> cruiser or from outside, Winter said.
> "The coroner conducts an investigation into the manner of death and does
n=
ot conduct
> an investigation into the crime scene," Inglewood Police Sgt. Gabriela
Gar=
cia said.
> Although it was unclear whether the officers saw a gunman, Seabrooks
defen=
ded her
> officers, saying they "correctly" believed "that they were under fire."
An=
d, 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
c=
ar 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
nonp=
rofit
> Police *****sment 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,"
Seabrook=
s said.
> Bobb added that a number of police agencies in Southern California,
includ=
ing the Los
> Angeles Police Department and the county Sheriff's Department, have in
rec=
ent years
> tightened their policies on firing at moving vehicles.
> He said a question that needed to be answered by police was whether the
ca=
r shot by
> the officers was bearing down on the police cruiser in a hostile manner,
o=
r 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
friend=
s. 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
h=
ung low, as
> family members tried to console her. "We need some closure to this," she
s=
aid.
> 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,
certa=
in 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
aga=
in. 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
snatch=
ed 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
v=
ehicle in
> park. Police officials said the speed of the vehicle was under
investigati=
on.
> 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,
bec=
ause
> 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
shoul=
d do,"
> Hadee said. "But I wish they had taken a moment to *****s that there
were =
other
> people who might be trying to leave."
>
> Andrew Blankstein and Ari Bloomekatz contributed to this re****t.
> --
> _____________________________________________________
>
> I intend to last long enough to put out of business all COck-suckers
> and other beneficiaries of the institutionalized slavery and genocide.
>
>
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> Humvees, or calls in air-strikes. It doesn't have a high command, or
> high security, or a high budget. The army that can defeat terrorism
> does battle quietly, clearing minefields and vaccinating children. It
> undermines military dictator****ps and military lobbyists. It subverts
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> ___________________________________________________
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