D.A.: Video helps show Gardena police acted lawfully in shooting of unarmed men

The Los Angeles County dis­trict at­tor­ney’s of­fice con­cluded that of­ficers who shot two un­armed men in June 2013 be­lieved one of them was reach­ing for a weapon when they opened fire. The DA’s of­fice’s con­clu­sion was based in part on a re­view of video re­cord­ings cap­tured by cam­er­as in the of­ficers’ patrol cars.

But at­tor­neys for the men who sued Gardena dis­agreed, say­ing the videos cap­tured by cam­er­as in the po­lice patrol cars show the “cold-blooded shoot­ing of clearly un­armed men.” The city re­cently agreed to settle the law­suit for $4.7 mil­lion.

Like many law en­force­ment agen­cies across the coun­try that use cam­er­as to cap­ture in­cid­ents, Gardena has re­fused to pub­licly re­lease the videos.

Sources: Los Angeles County district attorney’s office