LAPD records reveal flaws in crime reporting

Nathan Hunter’s ‘spousal abuse’ arrest report

In Feb­ru­ary 2013, LAPD of­ficers ar­res­ted Nath­an Hunter after he at­tacked his wife, stabbing her in the face with a screw­driver and throw­ing her down a flight of stairs. Be­cause Hunter used a weapon and caused ser­i­ous in­jur­ies, the in­cid­ent should have been re­por­ted as an ag­grav­ated as­sault, ac­cord­ing to FBI rules. However, the LAPD clas­si­fied this case as a simple as­sault, a minor crime that does not get coun­ted in the city’s of­fi­cial ser­i­ous vi­ol­ent crime stat­ist­ics.