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The video, posted on Facebook, shows several uniformed Los
Angeles Police Department officers scuffling with a man in a
downtown area where homeless people pitch tents at night known
as skid row. Once on the ground, the man continues struggling,
at which point several shots are fired.
A series of civilian deaths at the hands of police in the past
year has become a touchstone for trouble race relations in the
United States, most notably in Ferguson, Missouri, when an
unarmed teen-ager was shot and killed by a police officer,
triggering weeks of protests and some rioting. A grand jury
cleared the officer of wrongdoing.
The homeless man in the video was declared dead at a hospital
shortly after the shooting, the Times reported, citing police
spokesman Sgt. Barry Montgomery. Police could not be reached by
Reuters to confirm the report.
The man has not yet been identified.
Witnesses gave varying accounts about the shooting, with some
saying the man had reached for one of the officer's guns and one
saying he heard an officer saying "He's got my gun." Other
witnesses said the police had used a taser on the man before
shooting him.
Reached by the Times, Police Commission President Steve Soboroff
said "My heart just started pounding just watching" the video.
"These situations are just so horrific."
Soboroff said whether the man tried to take an officer's gun was
a critical matter in the shooting.
"To me, that would be the only explanation that something would
happen that quickly," the Times quoted him as saying.
Soboroff said the LAPD, its independent inspector general and
the district attorney's office would all investigate the
shooting "very, very carefully," the newspaper reported.
Police were originally called to the area to investigate a
robbery.
(Reporting by Chris Michaud; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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