The LAPD Is on Trial Once Again
The tragic and heart-rending story of Devin Brown, who was shot dead by Los Angeles Police Department Officer Steve Garcia last Sunday, has frustrated and outraged African Americans in this city.
This tragedy, coming on the heels of the flashlight beating of Stanley Miller by LAPD Officer John Hatfield last year and the decision by Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley not to file any criminal charges in the case, reopens old wounds and revisits the terrible history of conflict and tension between the LAPD and the African American community.
It reminds us that the institutional culture of the police force has not yet been transformed, and it represents a setback to police Chief William J. Bratton's efforts to build mutual trust, respect and a partnership between the police department and the African American community.
Based upon the LAPD's preliminary investigation, last week's incident began with a four-minute chase after Devin Brown drove through a red light near Gage and Grand avenues in South L.A. It ended at West 83rd Street and Western Avenue, when he began backing the maroon Toyota Camry toward the squad car.
Even though the police officers immediately got out of their squad car, moved out of the path of Brown's car and were not in danger of being hit, Garcia fired off 10 rounds, killing the boy.
Now there's no question that these two boys (Devin Brown had a 14-year-old passenger with him) should have been at home and not on the streets late at night. And, unquestionably, a 13-year-old had no business driving a car anywhere. But that does not give a police officer the right to kill him.
The reality in this city is that too often police officers stereotype black youths as gang members and too often they cross the line in going after those they see as the "bad guy."
The LAPD has a long-standing institutional culture in which some police officers feel that they have the tacit approval of their leadership, especially at the mid-executive level, to brutalize and even kill African American boys and men. They believe -- and they've often been proved right -- that heads will turn the other way.
Some police officers -- not the majority -- simply do not respect or value the lives of African American males. And this behavior will continue until these officers are held accountable for their actions by the LAPD and the criminal justice system.
