Los Angeles prosecutors have decided not to press charges against two police officers who fatally shot a 25-year-old black man in 2014, saying that the officers acted in self-defense during a struggle over an officer’s gun.
In a statement, the Los Angeles district attorney’s office said that officers Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas were in fear for their lives and acted lawfully when they shot Ezell Ford on 11 August 2014.
The finding comes more than a year after a police oversight board found the officers wrongfully stopped Ford, violating department policy, which led to the fatal close-range shooting.
Authorities said the officers had approached Ford after seeing him in a known gang area, telling him they wanted to speak with him. Ford, they said, began walking away, but the officers believed he was trying to discard an illegal substance.
Prosecutors said Wampler placed his hands on Ford’s shoulder before Ford spun around and grabbed the officer at the waist.
Both Wampler and Ford fell to the ground and started tussling as Ford tried to grab Wampler’s gun from the holster on his waist, prosecutors said.
Authorities said Wampler was able to retrieve his backup weapon, reached around Ford’s body and shot him once in the back, according to the redacted district attorney’s report that was released Tuesday. Prosecutors said Villegas also fired two shots at Ford.
“Although the loss of Mr Ford’s life is tragic, we believe the officers’ actions were legally justified and the evidence supports our decision,” Los Angeles district attorney Jackie Lacey said in a statement.
“Two officers were exonerated today in the shooting death of Ezell Earl Ford,” mayor Eric Garcetti said after the announcement. “As a father, and as a mayor who has grieved with too many Angelenos crushed by the unthinkable loss of a child, I know that due process will not soothe the anguish still being felt by Mr Ford’s loved ones.”
Garcetti said he accepted the district attorney’s decision, and pledged to advance community policing and de-escalation training.
The Los Angeles police commission ruled in June 2015 that the officers had no reason to stop and question Ford, and that violation of department policy led to an altercation that ended with Ford’s death. The commission found that Wampler was unjustified in shooting Ford and Villegas was wrong to draw his weapon but acted appropriately in firing it because he believed Wampler’s life was in danger.
Ford’s shooting led to a series of Black Lives Matters protests in Los Angeles.
In October, Ford’s family reached a tentative settlement in a state civil rights lawsuit they brought against the city. Ford’s mother, Tritobia Ford, told reporters Tuesday she could not understand why prosecutors didn’t bring charges in the August 2014 shooting death of her son Ezell.
She said “there will be no justice”, and that her son, who had a history of mental illness, “was murdered” by the officers. Ford added that the shooting was “unjustified.”
- This article was amended on 24 January to account for a missing word in mayor Eric Garcetti’s statement. Garcetti said “due process will not soothe the anguish”.