Two Los Angeles police officers tried to intervene when a colleague intentionally hit a knife-wielding man with a department van last year in an attempt to disarm him, a maneuver that the civilian Police Commission has now ruled was a clear violation of LAPD policy.
The commissioners agreed with Chief Michel Moore and an internal Los Angeles Police Department review board that found that the officer, Oswaldo Pedemonte, had violated policy when he struck Jonathan Mitrani, 31, at a slow speed, throwing him to the ground. floor during a meeting in North Hollywood last February.
Mitrani had been walking toward the vehicle, knife in hand, after leading officers in a slow procession along Burbank Boulevard, during which police hit him several times with a stun gun and a projectile launcher.
Moore concluded that Mitrani appeared intoxicated on police videos and posed no immediate threat to Pedemonte while the officer was sitting “in his police vehicle with the windows up, protected by ballistic panels,” the chief wrote in a report he submitted to the police. police. commission. The review board determined that Pedemonte could have left if he felt he was in danger, and Moore agreed.
“The Board noted that the Department does not train officers to use the police vehicle as an impact weapon and that there was no imminent threat to Officer Pedemonte or anyone else that would justify using the police vehicle in that manner,” Moore wrote. .
Their report says Pedemonte drove the truck at 2 or 3 mph toward Mitrani, who briefly grabbed the hood before being thrown to the pavement.
The incident, which attracted significant news coverage at the time, began after a 911 call reported that Mitrani had shown up drunk and after curfew at a facility where he lived, in violation of the facility's rules. A Los Angeles Fire Department dispatcher requested police backup and said Mitrani had a knife and appeared suicidal.
Responding officers found Mitrani outside the facility and tried to get him to come to them, but he ignored their commands and began walking away.
The review board unanimously condemned Pedemonte's actions.
Moore's report also said four officers involved in the encounter were late to activate their body cameras.
Moore sided with the minority of board members who found that Pedemonte's decision to get into his vehicle to follow Mitrani did not necessarily violate department rules.
Pedemonte's use of a Taser at the beginning of the encounter was found to be within policy. Other police actions during the incident were also found to be within LAPD policy or otherwise justified.
Officers found to have violated the policy could face disciplinary action ranging from written reprimands to termination. Any proposed discipline is protected by privacy laws and can be appealed to the LAPD Board of Rights. Further appeals can be pursued in state court.
Under department rules, an officer has a duty to intervene when he sees another officer using unreasonable force.
Seeing Pedemonte begin driving toward Mitrani, Officer Geovanny Salazar and a supervisor, Sgt. Joseph Fleming, tried to intercede.
Salazar yelled, “Wait, wait, wait, stop, stop, stop!” and Fleming repeatedly shouted, “No!”
Moore and the review board blamed Pedemonte for failing to alert his fellow officers of his intentions when he got into the SUV and then ran over the suspect.
In an interview with Det. John Macchiarella, who is part of the LAPD unit that investigates serious uses of force, Pedemonte said he feared he would be trapped inside the vehicle if Mitrani came any closer.
“So I thought: I'm going, you know what? “I'm going to use the vehicle as an impact weapon,” Pedemonte said, according to a transcript of the interview, adding that “I didn't want to run him over.”
In another recent ruling, the civilian commission said three Rampart Division officers were justified in shooting and killing a woman who had pointed what turned out to be a replica revolver in their direction.
While they blamed one or more of the officers for failing to seek cover at times and for using profanity, officials said their use of deadly force was within policy because they opened fire only after the woman, Mariela Cardenas, had pointed out what appeared to be a real weapon. revolver towards them.
The officers had no way of knowing at the time that the gun was fake, officials concluded.
One of the officers involved was Jacqueline McBride, daughter of a police union leader. McBride, who also has a sister on the force, became the third member of her immediate family to shoot someone in the line of duty, according to previous reports.
