A sharply divided Los Angeles Police Commission on Tuesday rejected the recommendation of Chief Bernard C. Parks and found that the fatal police shooting of a frail homeless woman last year violated department policy.
Three of the five commissioners sided with their civilian watchdog, Inspector General Jeffrey C. Eglash, who concluded that 55-year-old Margaret Mitchell did not pose a deadly threat to two bicycle patrol officers who stopped her to determine whether she was pushing a stolen shopping cart.
One of the officers, Edward Larrigan, shot the 5-foot-1, 102-pound, mentally ill woman when she allegedly lunged at him with a 12-inch screwdriver, police have said.
Board President Gerald L. Chaleff, along with Commissioners T. Warren Jackson and Dean Hansell, said in a written statement that they recognized that Larrigan honestly believed that he was in imminent danger.
"However, the preponderance of evidence does not support that degree of threat based on the totality of the circumstances, including Ms. Mitchell's stature and age," the statement read. "We also believe that the officer had not exhausted all reasonable alternatives at the time he fired."
Commissioners Herbert F. Boeckmann and Raquelle De La Rocha, who found that Larrigan acted within policy, also issued a written statement supporting their view.
"In the final analysis, we find that the officers' perceptions of immediate threat were not unreasonable and that Officer Larrigan's use of deadly force was within department policy," that statement said.
The commission found that Larrigan's partner, Kathy Clark, who did not fire her weapon, should receive additional training based on her role in the incident.
Since the May 21, 1999, shooting, community and police activists have been closely monitoring the commission's handling of the case to see whether the board would find the incident in or out of policy. The civilian panel was in the politically difficult position of having to decide whether to side with its strong-willed police chief or its independent inspector general, who were at odds on the issue.
The commission's ruling, clearly a blow to Parks, comes at a time when the department is dealing with the ever-expanding Rampart corruption scandal, in which more than 70 LAPD officers are under investigation for either committing crimes or knowing about them and helping to cover them up. The commission's siding with Eglash could signal an enhanced role for the civilian watchdog as the Rampart probe continues to unfold.
