Driver Stopped by Police Is Beaten to Death in Home

A 31-year-old Granada Hills man, apparently high on drugs, fled from police after a routine traffic stop Monday and tried to break into a nearby home, where frightened residents clubbed him to death, the Los Angeles Police Department said.

Officers Mike Callan and Joseph Bisbee of the West Valley Division stopped the driver because he had made an illegal U-turn, his lights were off at night and he was driving erratically near the LAPD station on Vanowen Street, said Lt. Tony Alba.

The man, identified by police as David Elliott, was apparently on drugs at the time and began shouting and making irrational statements, Alba said. The officers told him to lie face down on the sidewalk, but Elliott jumped up and ran to a house in the 6800 block of Wystone Avenue, where he kicked the door several times.

The residents, who police said spoke little English but said they were scared of robbers, hit Elliott several times. When officers arrived at the house, Elliott continued to resist arrest, even biting one of the officers, Alba said.

He was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Coroner’s officials said an autopsy will be performed and an investigation is continuing. Police are approaching the incident as an “in-custody death” because Elliott apparently died during a police procedure.

The residents of the house will not be charged with a crime, police said. “They were defending their domain,” Alba said. “They were very fearful.”

Callan and Bisbee, the officers, will face an internal investigation to determine their roles in the death, police said. Callan, 35, has been an LAPD officer for 11 years and Bisbee, 25, has been on the force just 11 months.