New video of California police shooting unarmed men raises controversy

GARDENA, Calif., July 15 (UPI) -- The use of police force is once again up for debate after a new video showing a deadly shooting near Los Angeles two years ago was released by a federal court this week.

The incident, which happened in June 2013 and was recorded by at least three cameras mounted in the officers' patrol cars, left Ricardo Diaz-Zeferino dead and another man wounded.

An investigation followed, but the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office ultimately cleared the officers of wrongdoing, and no charges were filed in the case -- despite the fact that both men were unarmed when they were shot.

"They made a split-second decision and they were not required to hold fire in order to ascertain whether Diaz would, in fact, injure or kill them," the district attorney's office said following the initial investigation.

The men were leaving a bar with friends when they encountered police, who were called to investigate a report of a robbery in the area, the New York Times reported. The encounter ended in gunfire, and now the district attorney's decision to clear the officers is being questioned.

"None of these guys had ever been arrested. They were all hard-working guys trying to support their families and just doing what young men do on a Saturday night," attorney R. Samuel Paz, who represents the victims, said.

The Gardena, Calif., Police Department was previously asked by news media to release their video, but officials declined to do so. The court's order, though, mandated the video be publicized -- which has again ignited the controversy over police officers' use of deadly force.

"It is hard to see what threat was posed to these officers," criminology professor Geoffrey Alpert said. "It doesn't look good in terms of the training of these officers. I can understand now why this department didn't want the videos released."

Diaz-Zeferino was shot eight times. The wounded man, Eutiquio Acevedo Mendez, was shot once. The officers said in affidavits that they believed Diaz-Zeferino was reaching for a weapon.

Some, though, believe the officers were justified in their actions. Jim Bueermann, the president of the Police Foundation, said the police dispatcher erred in calling the incident a robbery -- when it was simply a case of petty theft involving a stolen bicycle. The men who were shot were trying to help locate it, the Times report said.

Before the start of a civil suit, the city of Gardena agreed to pay the families nearly $5 million, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday. Paz is now asking the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct a civil rights investigation.

The Gardena Police Department has since implemented new training procedures for officers and said it will soon equip all officers with body cameras.