Fashion
Dash cam videos show police shooting, killing unarmed man in Gardena, California – TomoNews
GARDENA, CALIFORNIA — A federal judge on Tuesday forced the city of Gardena, California to release graphic dash cam footage of the shooting of an unarmed man by several police officers.
Ricardo Diaz Zeferino, 34, was shot and killed after he was mistakenly suspected of stealing a bicycle on June 2, 2013.
According to accounts by witnesses given to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, Diaz Zeferino was hanging out with two friends and his brother at Mis Amigos Bar on Redondo Beach Boulevard in Gardena just before the shooting.
After leaving the bar, Diaz Zeferino’s brother went across the street on his bicycle to buy lottery tickets from a CVS pharmacy. He left his bicycle outside, and it was stolen. A 9-1-1 call was placed just before 2:30 a.m., but before police could arrive, Diaz Zeferino and his two friends set out in search of the stolen bike.
The two friends were stopped by Sergeant Christopher Cuff, who mistook them for the thieves and told them to put their hands up. Diaz Zeferino ran up to join them, as three additional police officers arrived.
In dash cam footage from two of the police cars involved in the incident, police can be heard telling Diaz Zeferino to keep his hands up as he moves them up and down. Three officers, Christopher Mendez, Christopher Sanderson and Matthew Toda, then open fire.
Diaz Zeferino was struck eight times. His friend, Eutiquio Acevedo Mendez, was hit by one round, which left fragments near his spine.
The police may have thought the men were armed due to mistakes made by 9-1-1 dispatchers. A 9-1-1 dispatcher mistakenly told police the incident was a robbery, which can involve weapons or force. And in a conversation with one of the officers headed toward the scene, a 9-1-1 dispatcher says “unknown weapons, two suspects last seen eastbound on Redondo Beach Boulevard.”
No charges were filed against the officers by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, which decided the shooting was justified.
The city of Gardena, which agreed to settle a $4.7 million lawsuit with Acevedo Mendez and the family of Diaz Zeferino, spent months fighting to lawyers for the Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg to keep the video from the public.
On Tuesday District Judge Stephen Wilson said there was a public interest in seeing the footage.
“The fact that they spent the city’s money, presumably derived from taxes, only strengthens the public’s interest in seeing the videos,” Wilson wrote. “Moreover, defendants cannot assert a valid compelling interest in sealing the videos to cover up any wrongdoing on their part or to shield themselves from embarrassment.”
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