Footage Shows Los Angeles Cops Kill Man Clutching Plastic Fork
Earlier this month, a Los Angeles police officer shot and killed a man who was holding a plastic fork, according to newly released body-camera footage.
The victim of the police shooting has been identified as 36-year-old Jason Maccani.
At 2:20 p.m. on Feb. 3, police received a call that a man, armed with “a stick, like a pole,” had wandered into a studio near downtown Los Angeles and was acting “very aggressive.” The caller, whose claim that Maccani was armed with a pole turned out to be false, suspected that the man was on drugs, according to NBC Los Angeles.
When authorities arrived, the caller directed the police to Maccani’s location, and informed the officers that he had access to sharp objects.
Seven police officers followed the man down a hallway where they cornered him, according to security video released by the Los Angeles Police Department. One officer ordered Maccani to put his hands up and walk backwards toward them. While Macanni initially complied with the order, when the officer told him to stop walking, he turned around and continued toward them.
An officer shot a foam round at Maccani, believing that he was holding a screwdriver. Another officer believed that Maccani was holding a knife, according to the video released by the LAPD. Another officer fired two bean bag shotgun rounds, but Maccani did not stop advancing.
Maccani began screaming, and grabbed the barrel of the shotgun that had fired the bean bags. He was shot by one of the officers, before being tackled to the ground.
As he was on the ground one of the officers asked if anyone had shot “lethal,” and another responded “I did,” adding that he had shot Maccani in the arm. The officer who shot Maccani was identified as recently hired Caleb Garcia Alamilla.
The police officers began CPR as they waited for paramedics to arrive. Maccani was then taken to the hospital where he later died.
The white plastic fork he was holding, which police allegedly mistook for some kind of weapon, was taken into evidence.
“I remain concerned about the officer’s decision to use deadly force,” Chief Michel Moore said last week, according to NBC Los Angeles. The incident is being investigated by the California Department of Justice.
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