Officers in the Los Angeles Police Department violated deadly force rules in two controversial fatal shootings last year, a civilian panel announced Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Los Angeles Police Commission, which oversees the LAPD, said it faulted both officers who fatally shot James Joseph Byrd last October after a bottle shattered the back window of their patrol car. Officers had said they thought they were under fire, the Times reported.
The civilian panel also faulted the tactics and use of deadly force by one of two officers who fatally shot Norma Guzman as she walked along a street carrying an 8-inch knife last September. Police said she was holding the knife as she walked toward them; local activists and her family questioned why officers didn't use less-lethal devices, the Times reported.
Guzman and Byrd were among the 36 people shot by on-duty LAPD officers last year. Twenty-one of them were killed. The Times reported on-duty LAPD officers have shot 17 people, killing 14 thus far this year.
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