LAPD Officers Violated Policy In Dorner Manhunt
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(Haykeen Lior, Executive Producer)
After a year-long investigation into police violence during the manhunt for Christopher Dorner, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck determined eight police officers violated the LAPD's policies on the use of deadly force.
This final decision was announced by Chief Beck and the Police Commission during a news conference at LAPD headquarters this Tuesday.A year has passed since Keith Lawrence and his fiance Monica Quan were discovered "slumped over" the wheel of his vehicle, shot dead by Dorner during his rage-fueled vendetta against the LAPD in response to allegedly rampant racism and corruption.
READ MORE: Christopher Dorner: A Timeline Of His Alleged Crimes
The ensuing manhunt for Christopher Dorner made for nervous LAPD officers and itchy trigger fingers.
Two innocent Latina women in a vehicle resembling Dorner's were shot at more than 100 times by LAPD police officers - Margie Carranza (47) and her mother Emma Hernandez (71). Hernandez was shot twice in the back."This was a tragic cascade that led to an inaccurate decision by the officers," said Beck during the conference.
In response to the excessive violence, Chief Beck found the eight officers involved in the shooting to have violated the LAPD's policies on the use of deadly force.
This decision follows a lengthy internal investigation into the February shooting evaluating whether the officers' mistakes were excusable given the extreme circumstances.According to Chief Beck, the situation was as follows:
The officers were dispatched to a neighborhood in Torrance, CA, to guard the home of an LAPD captain after reports of Dorner in the surrounding area that week. The captain was perceived to be under personal threat because he was involved in the decision to discharge Dorner from the LAPD for misconduct.
Delivering newspapers, Carranza and her mother pulled into the street guarded by the police officers with high-beams on. Under high pressure, the police officers wrongly identified Carranza's pick-up truck as Dorner's vehicle due to the similar make and model, and opened fire after mistaking the sound of a newspaper being dropped on the ground as a gunshot.
SEE ALSO: LAPD Chief Beck Vows Open Dialogue Over Dorner Case
Despite the high-pressure situation, the Board of Police Commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday that the Torrance shooting violated departmental policy on the use of deadly force.
Andrew Smith, spokesperson for the LAPD, announced that Chief Beck must impose some sort of disciplinary action on the police officers involved.
"That [disciplinary action] can be anything ranging from extensive training to discharge," said Smith.
"The real lesson learned to me is that we pick the right people," said Chief Beck in light of the Torrance shootings and the fact Dorner was a former LAPD officer. "We hold officers to the highest standards, and in this case the officers did not meet those standards."
Beck declined to comment on when, where, and how the officers in the Torrance shooting will be disciplined.Read More:
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