Two Torrance cops linked to a racist textual content messaging scandal have been indicted within the 2018 capturing demise of a Black man who was holding an air rifle, in line with one of many officer’s protection attorneys.
Tom Yu, a protection lawyer for one of many officers, confirmed Thursday that Matthew Concannon and Anthony Chavez have been indicted within the killing of Christopher DeAndre Mitchell, a suspected automotive thief.
Yu stated he didn’t know what costs the officers would face however a court docket look is predicted early subsequent week.
Attorneys for Concannon didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark and a spokeswoman for the district lawyer’s workplace declined to remark. An lawyer representing Mitchell’s household stated he had not been knowledgeable of the indictment.
Former Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey cleared each officers of wrongdoing in 2018, however the case was one in every of 4 her successor, George Gascón, promised to reopen after he was elected in 2020.
Particular prosecutor Lawrence Middleton, whom Gascón employed to evaluate these circumstances impartial of the district lawyer’s workplace, started presenting proof to a grand jury final month.
In December 2018, Concannon and Chavez pulled as much as Mitchell, who was suspected of driving a stolen car, in a Ralph’s car parking zone in Torrance, in line with an earlier district lawyer’s workplace memo clearing the officers of wrongdoing.
The officers parked behind Mitchell, exited their car and yelled, “Police!” Mitchell initially positioned his arms on the steering wheel, in line with the memo.
The officers repeatedly ordered Mitchell to get out of the automotive, however he didn’t comply, in line with the report. After they approached him, the officers seen Mitchell’s arms transfer towards his lap, the place Concannon noticed what he believed to be a firearm. They opened hearth.
The officers described the weapon, later decided to be a “break barrel air rifle,” as “pinched” between Mitchell’s legs, although neither alleged he grabbed it or pointed it at them earlier than they shot him.
When information of Middleton’s pursuit of a grand jury indictment broke final month, Yu advised The Instances the transfer to hunt an indictment years after Lacey cleared his shopper of wrongdoing was “solely motivated by politics and as a result of marketing campaign guarantees by Mr. Gascón to his constituents.”
Concannon and Chavez have been amongst 15 officers linked to a racist textual content message scandal inside the Torrance Police Division after a search warrant in a felony case towards two different officers turned up a trove of messages despatched between 2018 and 2020 that made ugly, violent and racist feedback about Black and Latino individuals, members of the LGBTQ group and members of the Jewish religion.
Whereas The Instances didn’t discover proof that Concannon and Chavez despatched racist messages, a number of sources and paperwork reviewed by the newspaper confirmed they have been a part of the textual content thread and underneath investigation as a part of the scandal. Mitchell’s demise was mentioned within the textual content messages a number of instances, with unidentified officers utilizing the N-word to explain the useless man’s family members and others glorifying violence towards protesters who needed the officers charged.
