The Region : New Trial Ordered in Police Shooting

A state Court of Appeal ordered a new trial of a wrongful death case involving the fatal shooting of an Adams District man by a SWAT team officer in 1976. The appeal court, in effect, overturned a 1982 jury decision that found there had been no negligence by Los Angeles police officers in the death of Anthony Brown, 38. Brown, an Army veteran with a history of mental problems, was killed after he allegedly lunged with a knife at an officer after refusing orders to surrender. The appeals court ruled that the trial judge in the Los Angeles Superior Court civil action had erred in refusing to admit into evidence police reports on the shooting and in declining to allow a senior LAPD officer who had been at the scene to testify as an expert witness. A new trial date for the multimillion-dollar lawsuit, brought by the victim’s mother, will be set later.