Two weeks after Mitchell's death, there was renewed outrage when The Times published a story detailing the statements of two witnesses who flatly contradicted the police version of events, saying that Mitchell never lunged at Larrigan. Police officials had earlier claimed that those same witnesses had corroborated the officers' story.
A Times investigation published after the shooting found that the LAPD frequently mishandled incidents involving mentally ill or unstable people and that the department's investigations of their shootings often were deeply flawed.
The Mitchell case has been an unusually hands-on investigation for the LAPD's civilian oversight board, with commissioners conducting numerous interviews and even taking a field trip to the scene of the shooting.
The commissioners who found the shooting out of policy said that Larrigan's actions may have led to the tragic outcome of the case.
"The board strongly believes that Officer Larrigan's tactics were significantly deficient and may well have contributed to the officers finding themselves in a position where they believed deadly force was necessary," a statement for the majority said. "These deficient tactics included not gaining control of the shopping cart containing the screwdriver, not utilizing nonlethal options, and failing to keep a safe distance between himself and Ms. Mitchell."
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FOCUSING ON PHOTOGRAPHER
A judge will decide if a Times photographer must testify about North Hollywood shootout. B1
