officers - The Black Vault

FD·350 {Rev. 5·8·81)
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page, 1 ..me of
newspaper, city and state.)
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DAILY NEV'7S
.----------~::.:.:.:.::::.::...:~:::.:!..::.:....::::.:::.:::..:...=.::.;::..;..:.:,_________--joate: SUN MAR 24, 1991
Edition: FRONT SECTION 1 PAGE 13
1itte:
CASES HAVE COST L.A
$2.5 MILLION
Character: CIVIL RIGHTS
or
Ctassification:8 0-33B
Submitting Office:
LOS ANGELES
Indexing:
SEARCHED INDEXED·---:
SERIALIZED fii.ED.I----.... 1
MAR 2 1' 1991
FBI - LOS ANGELES ~
¢iiseS.h'ave cOst LA ... $2.5 mil/lOft
By Beth Barrett
and David Parrish
1Jaily News Staff Writers,
..
Over the past six years the city
has paid more than $2.5 million to
survivors and relatives of people in~
v;olved in.LAPD shootings, according
to city records. ·
Some of those cases involved officers
whose actions were judged to
be within LAPD's shooting policy.
LAPD policy requires that deadly
force be used only to protect an
officer or others from immediate
danger. Firing at, or from, moving
vehicles is generally prohibited in
the policy.
"Deadly force shall only be exercised
when all reasonable aftematives.
hav~ b~en exhausted or appear
1mpract1cabl~P states LAPD's
'u~f-force policy.
. police records show. Although se-
In the costliest case, in terms of verely wounded, Pierson survived
. dollars, LAPD Chief Daryl F. the shooting. His injuries now re­
Gates concluded in his use-of-force quire con$tant .medical care, ac-
' report that Officers Brent L. Jones cording to city records.~
and Jon G. Pearce acted within pol- The city has s~ttled Pierson's
icy when they shot Murphy Pier- wrongf!}l shooting case for $1.8
son, 71, in May 1986 while he was million, according to.city records.
standing on his porch. At the time, After reviewing the shooting, ·
Pierson was holding a shotgun that Gates required the two officers to
he reportedly had used to scare attend an eight-hour Tactical Fireaway
nearby drug dealers; accord- ·arms Training Course. . .
ing to LAPD records. - "I would have preferred that the'
Before shooting, officers with
LAPD's Wilshire Division ordered
officers used proper fire control
and target evaluation," Gates
Pierson to drop the shotgun - un- wrote.
aware that Pierson had a hearing
impairment, city records showed.
Jones and Pearce still are LAPD
officers, according to records. ·
When Pierson failed to obey the ; The District Attorney's Office
order, the officers fired 11 rounds ruled against prosecution, ~ccord·
hitting the elderly man four times, ing to records.
FBI/OOJ
..