Yesterday there was a diary about an off-duty LAPD cop who roughed up a 13-year-old boy (www.dailykos.com/...).
As everyone expected, the cop is now claiming he shot off his gun because ““He was in fear for his life.”
Larry Hanna, a Van Nuys-based attorney, said his client reacted as he was trained to do.
“You have an officer who got hit in the face so hard that he’s bleeding and almost passes out, getting tackled from the side, having about 17 to 20 kids coming at him … that’s bad,” Hanna said. “He was in fear for his life.”
Anybody who watches the video can see that it was the cop, <b>contrary to his training</b>, who escalated the encounter.
Hanna said the officer, who had a cut to his face, also believed during the Tuesday confrontation that the teenage boy might have a weapon.
“The first young man has hands in his pocket and the officer heard him say, ‘I’m going to shoot you. I’m going to shoot you.’”
In the video, well before the cop draws his gun, you can hear the boy deny the charge, “I didn’t say shoot you, I said sue you. Can’t you hear?” Also the boy’s hands are never in his pocket. In fact, his hands are on the cop’s hands nearly the whole time. This cop needs to lose in court. I hope a good attorney will step up and volunteer to take this boy’s case.