LAPD Chief Charlie Beck Meets With 'Black Lives Matter' Group
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Demonstrators vowed to continue protesting outside Los Angeles Police Department headquarters Friday, after police Chief Charlie Beck refused to meet their demand that he immediately fire two officers involved in the fatal shooting of 25-year-old Ezell Ford.
As many as 100 members of the group, Black Lives Matter Los Angeles -- a local chapter of a national coalition -- have been gathering outside police headquarters since Dec. 30 in response to the release of autopsy results, showing Ford was shot once in the right side of his back, once in the right arm and once in the right abdomen.
Sharlton Wampler, a 12-year veteran of the LAPD, and eight-year veteran Antonio Villegas have been on administrative duty since shooting Ford in South Los Angeles on Aug. 11.
Members of Black Lives Matter say LAPD officers were aware that Ford had mental health issues and the two officers should not have shot Ford, who was unarmed. The two officers contend they acted in self-defense, saying Ford was reaching for one of the officer's guns.
Four members of Black Lives Matter met with Beck after several demonstrators on Tuesday went to a meeting of the Los Angeles Police Commission -- the civilian panel that oversees the LAPD -- to demand that Beck fire the two officers who shot Ford, with one speaker calling Beck a "coward."
Following their meeting with the chief, which was also attended by Council President Herb Wesson, organizer and Cal State Los Angeles professor Melina Abdullah said Beck "wasn't going as far as a courageous chief could go" and bogged down the meeting with "bureaucratic conversation" about how he could not immediately fire the two officers."
LAPD spokesman Commander Andrew Smith said the chief felt it was a productive meeting in which the demonstrators were "reassured" that officers would "do whatever we can to ensure their rights to a peaceful protest here" outside police headquarters.
Smith added that Beck wanted to make it "clear to people that the chief is not able to fire officers like that, and in use-of-force cases like this," which must be reviewed by the Police Commission, for him to take action now would be "overstepping the bounds."
Abdullah acknowledged they are "thankful" for the meeting and consider it "a win" after being told three days ago that Beck would not meet with them.
(©2015 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
