Investigation of Sheriff’s Dept.
Regarding the shooting by the sheriff deputy at Willowbrook Park on Labor Day; I have always been on the police’s side, even when people spoke against them. But after the incident I witnessed at the park I can no longer side with the police.
I saw a young man running with a sheriff patrol car in hot pursuit driving at least 40 m.p.h. I saw the sheriff deputy point his gun and shoot this man in the back of his head in cold blood and end his life. This man did have a gun, but he never pointed it at the deputy or anyone else. He threw the gun in the lake and at the same instant the deputy fired. The deputy shot at this man while families were all over the park and the children were playing in the path of the speeding patrol car.
What am I to tell my children who witnessed this? How can I tell my children that they are to respect the police and that they are here to protect them when this is what they see?
RODGES A. LAWTON JR.
Los Angeles
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