LAPD to Examine Devin Brown Shooting

Wave Newspapers, News Report, Kevin Herrera, Posted: Dec 08, 2005

LOS ANGELES — Police Chief William Bratton said his department will conduct a swift, but thorough investigation into the shooting death of 13-year-old Devin Brown after the district attorney’s office announced Monday it would not prosecute the officer who shot the youngster.

Bratton said Tuesday that the LAPD’s Use of Force Review Board will begin looking at the case Dec. 28 and the investigation will be completed and submitted to the Los Angeles Police Commission no later than the end of January. At that time, the commission will review the findings and either approve the chief’s recommendations or make their own.

The matter will then be sent back to the chief, who can impose the determined level of discipline or send the case to a Board of Rights hearing where the officer can protest.

“We indicated right from the beginning there was no criminal wrongdoing on the part of the officer so that has now been determined by those responsible under the law,” Bratton said. “However, this doesn’t change anything relative to the administrative review. … It’s a process that we are following and one that will take us to the truth. … We are just asking people to have patience and let the process take its course.”

Bratton’s promise that the internal investigation will be “transparent and open” did nothing to relieve the anger and frustration community members are feeling. Those who attended Tuesday’s meeting of the Police Commission said they have lost faith in the criminal justice system and the LAPD’s ability to monitor itself.

Some activists called for federal prosecutors to get involved in what they see as a series of unnecessary and often deadly officer-involved-shootings against people of color, particularly African-Americans.

“This is just another case of the erosion of trust of African-Americans and Latinos” for the police department, said Minister Tony Muhammad, head of the Western states for the Nation of Islam who formed a South Los Angeles coalition immediately after Brown’s death. “The excessive use of force only becomes an issue when you are dealing with black people. To execute the death penalty on [Brown] on a little misdemeanor joy ride, he wouldn’t have got a month in jail for what he did. … We don’t need patience. We need protest.”

According to a report released by the office of District Attorney Steve Cooley, officers Steve Garcia and his partner Dana Grant were on patrol in the Newton Division around 3:45 a.m. on Feb. 6 when they observed a 1990 Toyota Camry, driven by Brown, run a red light at the Gage Avenue onramp to the Harbor (110) Freeway.

Suspecting the driver was drunk, the officers tried to pull the Camry over. A brief car chase ensued, at which time the officers learned the Camry had been reported stolen several hours earlier.

Near the intersection of 83rd Street and Vermont Avenue, officers said Brown tried to turn east at a speed of 40 to 50 miles per hour, lost control and crashed into an iron fence. The passenger, identified in the report as Chad R., bailed out of the car and ran. The officers exited their patrol car, which was parked behind the Camry, drew their weapons and sought cover behind their car doors in a standard LAPD felony stop.

The report states that Brown then revved the engine loudly, shifted in reverse and backed into the patrol car at a high rate of speed. As the car crashed into the police cruiser and continued to move backwards, Garcia apparently jumped out from behind the cruiser’s passenger door and ran to the right of the Camry where he fired 10 shots at Brown, two of which were “rapidly fatal.”

The coroner’s report revealed that Brown had marijuana in his system at the time of his death.

County prosecutors said they did not file charges against Garcia because a witness corroborated the officer’s statement that he was in harm’s way as Brown backed the stolen Toyota toward Garcia and his partner.

The witness, Miles Carthron, said he was traveling in the area when he saw the Toyota’s driver “smash the gas” and put the car in reverse. Carthron said Garcia “was sandwiched in” and “if he hadn’t jumped he would’ve been hit.” Carthron said the officer made “a split-second decision” to shoot.

Prosecutors said Carthron was the only “credible” eyewitness.

“While Officer Garcia’s exact location or movements at the time he fired his weapon cannot be precisely determined, it is undisputed he was exposed, with a high degree of risk of being struck by the oncoming vehicle,” the district attorney’s report states.

To convict Garcia, prosecutors would have to be able to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer had no justifiable fear that his life was in danger during the few seconds in which he decided to fire his weapon.

Given the high burden of proof as well as recent failures on the part of prosecutors to convict police officers, the district attorney’s decision not to file charges came as no surprise to lawyers, the chief, Police Commission President John Mack or community activists.

“Jurors in general don’t like to convict police officers,” said Laurie Levenson, a professor at the Loyola School of Law. “The burden of proof is beyond a reasonable doubt and even in the most egregious situations like Rodney King, it’s hard to win cases against police. … In this case, the first thing jurors will be thinking is not about the police officer’s actions, but that the boy shouldn’t have been out there that late riding in a stolen car.”

Bratton said if community members are not happy with the decision, “they can elect another district attorney.”

The incident is fueling a long-standing belief in the black community that a civilian review board with prosecutor power needs to be established so that corruption and political influence do not come into play. To do so would mean changing the state’s Constitution, Levenson said.

Activist Najee Ali said his organization, Project Islamic Hope, is ready and willing. Members will begin collecting signatures for a ballot initiative that could appear as early as next year, he said.

Bratton said calls for an independent review board were “baloney,” and emphasized the power of the Police Commission, which is comprised of civilians appointed by the mayor.

“We have a former U.S. attorney, a former assistant U.S. attorney and the former president of the Urban League for 35 years,” he said. “How much more independent can you get?”

Trying to remain positive, Mack said the community should take comfort in that Brown’s death did bring reform in the passage of a new LAPD policy regarding shooting at moving vehicles.

“This was at least one concrete action that can be seen as the lone positive in this terrible, tragic incident,” Mack said.

Brown’s mother, Evelyn Davis, filed a wrongful death lawsuit and civil rights suit against Garcia and the city in May. A jury is set to hear that case in April.

“Unfortunately, we’re not surprised by this finding,” Davis’ attorney, Brian Dunn, said earlier this week. “We have found consistently that the district attorney’s office has been reluctant to initiate criminal prosecutions of police officers who kill civilians. And we have always maintained that this shooting was completely unjustified and represents an intolerable abuse of power.”

Garcia, a nine-year veteran of the force, is currently assigned to a “non-patrol function,” a spokesman for the department said.

According to the Police Protective League, over 20 officers throughout the country have been killed by vehicles in the past four years.

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