Posted on 04/17/2012 3:25:59 PM PDT by BenLurkin
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — An attorney for a San Fernando Valley man killed by police after a freeway pursuit on Tuesday defended a lawsuit brought by the victim’s family.
The family of Abdul Arian is suing the LAPD after he was shot as many as 90 times at the end of a high-speed chase last week on the 101 freeway.
Attorney Jeffrey Galen told KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO the family has a legitimate wrongful death claim against the department.
“If you look at the video, once Arian was stopped, when the police were at their closest point to him, it was clear that he had both hands outstretched and he was holding a cell phone in his hand,” said Galen.
The claim equates to $1 million per bullet after investigators determined that Arian was shot by approximately 120 rounds by eight police officers.
Arian reportedly told 911 dispatchers during the pursuit that “if they pull their guns, I’m gonna have to pull my gun out on them”, according to a partial transcript.
However, Galen contends that since the freeway was lit up “like a football field” because of overhead news helicopters, officers could not have possibly mistaken the object Arian held up in their direction.
“I don’t know about you, but I can clearly tell the difference between a handgun and a cell phone,” said Galen. “He was showing the officers he had a cell phone.”
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck told KNX 1070′s John Brooks that the investigation into the officers’ response is ongoing.
“I don’t draw conclusions until I get to see what the officers had to say about their use of deadly force, which I haven’t done yet,” said Beck.
While acknowledging that the filing of the lawsuit “severely limits” his ability to discuss the specifics of the case, Beck also said he will consider releasing the 911 tape where the young man reportedly told the officer he had a gun.
While Galen conceded that Arian was wrong to flee from the police, he cited the “improper use of police force” and the amount of firepower used against the unarmed 19-year-old.
Despite Galen’s claims, CBS2 legal analyst Steve Meister dismissed any chance for legal action against the LAPD to move forward.
“This lawsuit is rubbish is my reaction, it’s ridiculous, it’s frivolous, it shouldn’t be brought,” said Meister. “I think it’ll either be tossed out or a jury will find against this silly theory of liability.”
A funeral service for Arian was scheduled for noon on Tuesday at Pierce Brothers Valhalla in North Hollywood.
This guy was shot dead on live television. To the casual viewer it certainly looked like the guy was pointing a pistol.
Just my opinion, of course.
The kid wanted to die, he calls 911 saying he has a gun..posts some rant on his facebook account posting about shooting people..it was dark, you can see him pointing SOMETHING at the cops, you do that at night, simulating a weapon, tough cookies..your gonna get shot.its simple suicide by cop, of course the family is after their big pay day
Hold them to the same standards as a civilian in a self defense shooting. Zimmerman only used one round.
LEOs can do that as well. Recently a Sheriff had to take out a perp in my county. He did it with one shot. Him, I consider a professional. I have another name for people thinking that, in this case, sending 90 rounds downrange in public is ever justified.
90?
Seriously?
Not a typo? (9?)
ROP looking for a payout, heard 911 tape guy said he had a gun
I wasn’t there,but it is easy to get caught up in the pack syndrome, I don’t excuse the 90 rounds, that’s a bit overdone, However the kid was asking for it.
Either suicide by cop or the most stupid SOB to ever drive the streets.
120 Million dollars? Come on, thats crazy. A reprmand in each officers file jacket and a retraining session should do it.
I have to wonder if some people hear the first shot and think “I got to get in on this” and start emptying their guns.
"“I don’t draw conclusions until I get to see what the officers had to say about their use of deadly force, which I haven’t done yet,” said Beck. "
This is stated by the Chief of Police, and he can't draw any conclusions when his officers shoot 90 rounds at what turns out to be an unarmed individual. I guess it is SOP for the LAPD to act this way. Why did they stop at 90? Is that the LAPD's magic number when a group get together to take down a perp?
Why did they stop at 90?
Maybe all of their guns were empty.
Then I guess part of their retraining will have to include reloading drills. :-)
The LAPD SLA shooting of 1974 was up in the several thousands of rounds...
There were 87 cops on the scene, so three of them shot twice.
You shoot until the threat no longer exists. In other words until he drops the weapon or is dead.
I am sure the bank robbing incident they had years back with the two body armored thugs expended a lot of rounds also. But comparing either of those incidents to a guy in the middle of a freeway is apples and oranges. The SLA and the bank robbers were full blown firefights with determined enemies. One action was from a house and the other was roaming city streets.
I remember at the time though thinking several thousand rounds was a little over done.
More likely they thought the perpetrator had fired.
90 shots fired? Probably.
90 hits? No way.
Shot 90 times? The police would have had to fire 1,000 rounds to hit him that many times!
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