The household of a person who was shot to loss of life by Los Angeles police snipers throughout an armed standoff final spring is suing town of L.A., alleging officers had been inspired to make use of drive by a colleague who informed them “completely satisfied looking” earlier than the taking pictures.
The lawsuit, filed this week in Los Angeles County Superior Court docket, claims officers might have executed extra to deescalate the encounter earlier than opening fireplace on 54-year-old Leron James, who, regardless of being armed and barricading himself in a downtown L.A. condo constructing, wasn’t a hazard to anybody else.
A division evaluate board beforehand discovered that the 2 SWAT snipers’ use of lethal drive within the Could 2022 incident was inside coverage. The division board did, nonetheless, take concern with among the techniques utilized by the 2 officers, Howard Ng and Joseph Dominguez, main as much as the taking pictures.
The go well with comes on the heels of reporting by The Occasions into explosive allegations by a former SWAT sergeant, who maintains that the elite unit operates below a “tradition of violence” pushed by a bunch of influential members generally known as the “SWAT Mafia.”
A lawsuit introduced in 2020 by former Sgt. Tim Colomey alleged that sure problematic members of SWAT “glamorize using deadly drive” and ensured that officers who “share the identical values” are promoted within the unit, whereas commanders flip a “blind eye” to the issues.
On the day of the incident, James reportedly known as 911 after he ingested methamphetamine. He later turned combative with firefighters who responded to the scene.
Police say James let off a single shot from a window at officers and bystanders on the road beneath, prompting Ng and Dominguez to open fireplace, killing him.
The incident forged a harsh highlight on SWAT, after one of many unit’s members, Leon Maya, was captured on a physique digital camera video telling different officers who had been making ready to confront the barricaded James, “completely satisfied looking.” The episode was seized on by division critics, who stated it mirrored a tradition of brutality and callousness inside SWAT.
Division officers have stated the comment was caught on the physique digital camera of one other officer who occurred to be strolling previous and was found throughout a subsequent evaluate of video from the incident.
In response to a report for Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore, Ng was strolling up when Maya made the remark.
Maya, who had his personal physique digital camera turned off till about an hour after the incident, obtained a two-day suspension for the remark, LAPD disciplinary data present. Citing state privateness legal guidelines, the division has not publicly recognized Maya, however his title is listed in an inside report.
“The household was outraged when it discovered concerning the conversations that had been held non-public previous to this taking pictures,” stated lawyer Carl Douglas, who filed the go well with on the household’s behalf. “Justice calls for a full exploration of the details and circumstances of this tragic loss of life.”
The LAPD and town lawyer’s workplace every declined to remark, citing the pending litigation.
Negotiators tried to steer James to show himself in by interesting to his concern for the security of his canine, Dougie. A robotic was despatched into the condo to speak with James. When he didn’t reply, officers fired gasoline canisters into the condo.
As an alternative of leaving the division, a gasping James was seen opening a window earlier than pulling out a handgun and letting off a shot indiscriminately towards the road beneath. Nobody was injured.
Ng and Dominguez had been watching James’ actions from their perch in a seventh-story condo in a close-by constructing, in response to the report. Roughly 26 ft separated them from James.
The evaluate board discovered Ng and Dominguez had been justified in utilizing lethal drive towards James, after he fired a gun out of the condo window. However the board faulted the officers for a number of tactical missteps.
Ideally, one officer could be the designated shooter, whereas the opposite performed the position of spotter, passing alongside particulars about what was taking place within the condo beneath to keep away from the “simultaneous discharge of their rifles,” the board stated.
As an alternative, officers every fired a single shot at James. The board additionally faulted Dominguez for eradicating his physique armor earlier than taking a shot. Ng’s resolution to cross in entrance of his accomplice’s rifle a number of instances was a “substantial deviation” from coverage, the board dominated.
Dominguez informed division investigators in an interview that he shot James after he noticed the person fireplace a shot, figuring out that there have been “individuals strolling round” on the street beneath.
“Additionally, within the space of — the studio, there was individuals which are truly dwelling within the storefronts which are there. Within the occasion to the protection of their lives, of law enforcement officials’ lives and the harmless bystanders that had been there, I felt that the suspect was posing a lethal risk, so I fired one spherical on the suspect whereas he was there firing with the pistol,” Dominguez stated, in response to snippets of the interview that had been included within the report.
Ng and Dominguez had been ordered to attend a coaching session in Could 2022 that lined such subjects as communication, physique digital camera use and firearms techniques.
Moore stated after the James taking pictures that he was disturbed by the “completely satisfied looking” remark, however he denied the SWAT Mafia claims alleged within the lawsuit. Moore stated on the time that the unit’s members have persistently proven restraint and talent whereas dealing with tough and harmful conditions.
Moore later ordered a 10-year evaluate of the unit’s operations to find out whether or not “any potential issues or patterns” existed in how its members used drive. The controversial report, revealed final July, concluded that there was no tradition of violence inside the unit. It stated SWAT officers used drive in solely a small fraction of deployments between 2012 and 2022; no drive was utilized in 1,245 of the 1,350 incidents, the report discovered.
Police Fee President William Briggs requested concerning the “completely satisfied looking” remark at a current assembly of the civilian-run physique that oversees the division.
“I wanna ask you whether or not or not that terminology is the ethos of SWAT after they method barricaded suspects,” Briggs requested a supervisor with Metropolitan Division, which incorporates SWAT.
No, stated Capt. Mario Mota, including that he was the one who first seen the remark whereas reviewing an officer’s physique digital camera video. He “instantly took motion,” Mota stated.
“That isn’t the fame and that isn’t my expectation,” Mota stated. The officer who made the remark was instantly faraway from his cadre, he stated.
Mota stated SWAT’s tradition “consistently developed” over its historical past. Presently, he stated, the unit has about 70 officers, who’re “extremely skilled and devoted to what they do.”
“All of them take each incident private,” Mota stated. He identified that the SWAT group has not shot anybody or employed sure much less critical drive to date this 12 months.
“That’s what we painting day in and time out and perform, not that ‘completely satisfied looking’ [comment],” Mota stated.
