Readers React: Is shooting an unarmed person ever justified?
To the editor: I strongly disagree with Police Protective League President Tyler Izen on the shooting death of Ezell Ford by Los Angeles Police Department officers. (“No to military equipment for cops, yes to cameras in patrol cars,” Letters, Aug. 19)
How simple a fact is it: A person who has a gun is a threat. If a person attempts to take a gun, as the LAPD officers say Ford did, and is unsuccessful, he is not armed and not a threat to an armed officer’s life. Attempting to take a gun most likely means someone does not possess a firearm.
What happened is that an officer reacted to the potential that his life could have been in danger. But his life was not in danger, and an unarmed citizen died. That fact trumps everything.
The LAPD should update its training and the Police Protective League should get some common sense — for the benefit of everyone.
Jeff Bornstein, Canoga Park
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