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Man with towel-wrapped arms, flags down cops, cops shoot him

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G

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
Link.

If you come across the video, be warned, it is graphic. Shows the aftermath and not what happened before he was shot. I hope he pulls through.

Los Angeles police shot and critically wounded a man after he raised his arm, wrapped in a towel, toward officers Friday in Los Feliz, police said.

Police said officers thought the man had a gun, but he turned out to be unarmed.

The man flagged down officers about 6:35 p.m. at Los Feliz Boulevard and Tica Drive south of Griffith Park, according to a police account.

"This person extended an arm wrapped in a towel. The officer exited the vehicle and said, 'Drop the gun, drop the gun,'" LAPD Lt. John Jenal said.

Then at least one officer shot the man, officials say. He was taken to a hospital where he was listed in critical condition.

A motorist shot graphic video of the officers handcuffing the man with a visible head injury.

LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith, a department spokesman, said the officers followed standard procedure in handcuffing the man when they did. At that point, Smith said, the man had not been searched and was considered a suspect.

"We always do that," Smith said. "That's the policy ... to handcuff someone in a situation like that."

Smith cautioned that the investigation into Friday's shooting was still in its early stages. One of the key questions, he said, was why the man flagged down the two uniformed officers.

The man was standing on the side of the road, Smith said, when he called out to the officers: "Police, police."

Smith said investigators would explore all possibilities, including whether the man needed some type of help from police. He said investigators would also look into the man's background to see if there were any indications the shooting was an attempted "suicide by cop."

The man's name has not been released.

"We cover everything. Our investigators leave no stone unturned," Smith said. "We don't have any idea about this guy's background. We just don't know yet."

The shooting in Los Feliz was one of two Friday in which LAPD officers shot a man who was partially concealed by a blanket or towel. Earlier in the day, LAPD officials said, officers wounded a man in El Monte after he got out of a car covered in a blanket and then brandished a gun. The man, who was critically wounded, had led officers on a two-hour chase that began in South L.A. after he allegedly assaulted a woman.

Smith said investigators would also examine whether the officers involved in the Los Feliz shooting were aware of the other incident earlier in the day.

The officers in the Los Feliz shooting were assigned to the LAPD's Security Services division — a detail that typically provides security at city facilities, Smith said.

Except for a small strip of yellow police tape tied to a porch railing, there were no signs Saturday morning that a shooting had occurred in the Los Feliz neighborhood. The shooting happened along a stretch of Los Feliz Boulevard popular among joggers and people walking their dogs, not far from a stretch of restaurants drawing their typical weekend brunch crowds.

Kelsey Magnuson, 31, has lived in the building across the street from where the shooting occurred for almost 10 years. She said she was surprised when she learned of the shooting Friday, given how safe the area feels.

It's the kind of neighborhood where someone can step outside their building for a late-night cigarette and not feel threatened, she said.

"I've never felt like there would be anything worrisome here," she said. "It makes you wonder what the commotion was."

The Los Feliz shooting marks the latest of several high-profile police shootings the LAPD is grappling with.

Last week, the Los Angeles Police Commission concluded that one of the two L.A. police officers who fatally shot Ezell Ford, a mentally ill black man, last summer was not justified in using deadly force.

LAPD reports found that Ford and the officer were struggling over the officer's weapon. But the commission decided that the officer did not have a reason to stop and detain Ford in the first place. His handling of the encounter, the commission concluded, was so flawed that it led to the fatal confrontation.

The LAPD is also investigating the fatal police shooting of an unarmed and homeless black man near the Venice boardwalk in May.

L.A. police Chief Charlie Beck has said he was “very concerned” about the May shooting. “Any time an unarmed person is shot by a Los Angeles police officer, it takes extraordinary circumstances to justify that,” Beck told reporters in May. “I have not seen those extraordinary circumstances.”

The LAPD is now investigating the Los Feliz shooting. Based on the video, the officers and the injured man all appear to be white.
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I

ItIsOkBro

Member
GK86 said:
Smith said investigators would explore all possibilities, including whether the man needed some type of help from police. He said investigators would also look into the man's background to see if there were any indications the shooting was an attempted "suicide by cop."
Click to expand...

This is sad. Shoot him down and then investigate if he wanted help.
 
Kadin

Kadin

Member
Was it Casino where some dude had a long sub sandwich in his hands and the cops thought it was a gun and mowed him down? For some reason this reminded me of that.
 
HORRORSHØW

HORRORSHØW

Member
these fucking cops need to show some restraint. and wtf that's right by my old neighborhood. during rush hour to boot. must've been traumatic to witness that first hand.
 
B

Banana Aeon

Member
Yo, police. You know you can always try to de-escalate the situation before pulling out your gun, right? Shooting everyone ain't doing too good for your rep.
 
A

antonz

Member
DooD1234 said:
Huh? Suicide by cop is a thing now?
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For someone who wants to die but cannot bring themselves to do it themselves its an attractive option. Most suicidal people never do it because they cant get themselves over that hurdle to actually do it.
 
T

Two Words

Member
Cops need to stop taking on this attitude that everybody wants to shoot them. Throughout my 27 years of my life, there have been several times where a person is carrying something that is not immediately identifiable to me. Many of those times, the unidentified object could potentially be a weapon for all I know. Not once has it ever been a weapon, or at least not a weapon that was being used against me or anybody else. Imagine if I shot people every time this happened.
 
T

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
kamakazi5 said:
It has always been a thing.
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I believed that until I started seeing video of these supposed suicides.
Then again the mere act of summoning the police should be considered a suicide and/or murder attempt at this point.
 
T

Twenty7KVN

Member
LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith, a department spokesman, said the officers followed standard procedure in handcuffing the man when they did. At that point, Smith said, the man had not been searched and was considered a suspect.

"We always do that," Smith said. "That's the policy ... to handcuff someone in a situation like that."
Click to expand...
This can't be real! The guy was on the ground motionless with a gunshot wound in his head. How is it standard protocol to handcuff him in this situation? I don't think he's going to get up he it's the fucking terminator.
 
Schattenjäger

Schattenjäger

Gabriel Knight
Tenebrous said:
The cop probably watched too much Godfather II.

godfather2.jpg


Another tragic loss of life... Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with your country, AmericaGAF?
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Did you even read the article? Guy is in critical condition.
 
V

Verano

Reads Ace as Lace. May God have mercy on their soul
Tenebrous said:
The cop probably watched too much Godfather II.

godfather2.jpg


Another tragic loss of life... Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with your country, AmericaGAF?
Click to expand...

thats what Im thinking too....also its so rare for anyone to be shot up by cops in Los Feliz
 
W

wenis

Registered for GAF on September 11, 2001.
Was there am APB out about a cloth wrapped man? Just dumb. Pure idiocy.
 
H

Hagi

Member
This is fucked. I wonder if just the mention of that they "knew" about the earlier incident that happened that day would be enough to deny them responsibility for this. I'm surpsired that Americans even leave the house with the amount of things you can't do lest you get shot by some dipshit police officer.

Twenty7KVN said:
This can't be real! The guy was on the ground motionless with a gunshot wound in his head. How is it standard protocol to handcuff him in this situation? I don't think he's going to get up he it's the fucking terminator.
Click to expand...

You can never be sure with minorities.
 
K

Kettch

Member
Reminds me of that guy in NC that was in a car accident and was then shot by police when he ran toward them to get help.

Which reminded me to look up that case again. Apparently the officer ended up getting indicted by a second grand jury after the first one refused to. Amazing to me that there was even a possibility to not indict there.
 
K

Kallor

Member
Jesus Christ that fuckin video. Still gotta handcuff him
even with his brain pouring out of his head?
Wtf.
 
F

Foffy

Banned
Two Words said:
Cops need to stop taking on this attitude that everybody wants to shoot them. Throughout my 27 years of my life, there have been several times where a person is carrying something that is not immediately identifiable to me. Many of those times, the unidentified object could potentially be a weapon for all I know. Not once has it ever been a weapon, or at least not a weapon that was being used against me or anybody else. Imagine if I shot people every time this happened.
Click to expand...

Imagine all of the raises you'd get!
 
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