The police officer who shot and killed a knife-wielding Guatemalan man whose death has sparked three days of violent protests in Los Angeles had been involved in two previous shootings while on duty, according to a media report.
The story on the Los Angeles Times Web site came as hundreds of people returned to the streets for a third night of protests over the fatal shooting of Manuel Jamines, 37,
Earlier on Wednesday evening, Chief Charlie Beck faced an angry crowd at a community meeting intended to quell the violence.
Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Chief Charlie Beck voiced support for Hernandez in an interview with the Times. Citing privacy laws, Beck would not discuss the past shootings or any details of Hernandez’s personnel file.
At the community meeting, a crowd of more than 300 packed a school in the Westlake neighborhood where Jamines was killed on Sunday after he allegedly lunged toward the officer with a switchblade.
The crowd jeered Beck when he defended officers by reading a witness’s account of how Jamines threatened her.
Beck said the witness, a neighborhood resident who was not named, told three bicycle officers that a man with blood on his hands tried to stab her and pregnant woman next to her.
“She referred to the officers as her angels who had descended from heaven to save her life and that of the pregnant lady,” Beck said.
Sunday’s killing turned into a rallying point as community members, aided by outsiders, took to the streets three consecutive nights and used the death to highlight past injustices and vent ongoing frustrations.
Police have defended the killing and said they’ve been taken aback by the high emotions following what looked like a clear-cut case of justifiable use of force. Each year, the LAPD is involved in up to about 40 shootings; those that typically cause controversy involve unarmed or surrendered suspects.
Residents outraged over the killing have said the top brass should have handled the situation differently and say department officials’ surprise shows the agency is out of touch with the people.
Authorities have said the officers told Jamines in Spanish and English to put down the weapon. Instead, he raised the knife above his head and lunged at officer Frank said Capt. Kris Pitcher, who heads the LAPD’s Force Investigation Division.
Hernandez shot Jamines twice in the head. He died at the scene.
Juan Barillas, a member of the Union de Guatemaltecos Emigrantes, told the crowd at Wednesday’s meeting that Jamines spoke neither English nor Spanish. Instead, he spoke Quiche, a Mayan dialect, Barillas said.
“They could have used pepper spray or a Taser gun,” said Salvador Sanabria, executive director of the nonprofit community group El Rescate.
Pitcher said Jamines was an illegal immigrant from Guatemala. The day laborer was carrying a switchblade knife with a serrated, 7.6cm blade. The police captain pledged an open and transparent investigation into the shooting.
The other officers involved were Steven Rodriguez and Paris Pineda, both five-year veterans of the department. All the officers were Latino and speak Spanish.
Police said the knife was covered in blood, and DNA tests were being carried out to determine whose it was. Officers received unconfirmed reports Jamines may have attacked someone before police arrived, Pitcher said.
The officers involved were placed on administrative leave, a standard move after shootings.
Protesters who gathered outside the local police station on Tuesday night pelted officers with eggs, rocks and bottles and set a trash bin on fire. Others dropped household items from apartment buildings. Officers fired at least two rounds of foam projectiles at demonstrators and arrested 22 people, mainly for failure to disperse and unlawful assembly.
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