Photo: losangeles.cbslocal.com
The Los Angeles Police Department has released surveillance footage of what has come to be known as the Willowbrook shooting that occurred last month.
It resulted in the death of 24-year-old Ryan Twyman. He was at the wheel of a parked Kia Forte sedan when the deputies approached him and tried to drive off when summoned to exit. His family is suing for damages claiming use of excessive force.
You will find a snippet of the footage in the video report at the bottom of the page. Twyman was wanted by the police on felony weapons charges, after police retrieved several weapons at his home, which was in violation of his parole.
This happened in April and, for weeks, police tried to track him down. They eventually saw his Kia parked outside a South Los Angeles apartment complex he was known to frequent, so they approached it.
In the video, one of the deputies opens the rear passenger door, with his gun drawn. The car begins to back out and the officer’s arm gets caught in the door: that’s when the shooting starts. By the time they were down, the deputies fired a total of 34 shots, even though neither Twyman nor his passenger was armed. The passenger was not hurt, but Twyman died at the scene.
The LAPD is now investigating the shooting because, as per the department’s policy, deputies are not allowed to shoot at moving cars, unless said cars are mowing down pedestrians on purpose. This is the only situation in which they can consider the car a weapon, and this was not the case here.
The vehicle itself “shall not presumptively constitute a threat that justifies the use of deadly force,” the policy reads. This, despite earlier claims that Twyman was about to use the Kia as a weapon against the 2 deputies.
The family is claiming use of excessive force on an unarmed man led to his death, and will sue the department for it.
You will find a snippet of the footage in the video report at the bottom of the page. Twyman was wanted by the police on felony weapons charges, after police retrieved several weapons at his home, which was in violation of his parole.
This happened in April and, for weeks, police tried to track him down. They eventually saw his Kia parked outside a South Los Angeles apartment complex he was known to frequent, so they approached it.
In the video, one of the deputies opens the rear passenger door, with his gun drawn. The car begins to back out and the officer’s arm gets caught in the door: that’s when the shooting starts. By the time they were down, the deputies fired a total of 34 shots, even though neither Twyman nor his passenger was armed. The passenger was not hurt, but Twyman died at the scene.
The LAPD is now investigating the shooting because, as per the department’s policy, deputies are not allowed to shoot at moving cars, unless said cars are mowing down pedestrians on purpose. This is the only situation in which they can consider the car a weapon, and this was not the case here.
The vehicle itself “shall not presumptively constitute a threat that justifies the use of deadly force,” the policy reads. This, despite earlier claims that Twyman was about to use the Kia as a weapon against the 2 deputies.
The family is claiming use of excessive force on an unarmed man led to his death, and will sue the department for it.
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