City to Pay More Bills of Police Shooting Victim
The Los Angeles City Council has raised to $52,000 its contribution toward the medical bills for Grover Smith, a bystander shot by an elite undercover squad of the LAPD in Northridge in 1997.
The council voted Friday to add $2,000 to the budget for Smith’s medical bills after doctors determined he needed corrective surgery for a metal rod used to replace part of his right thigh bone, said attorney Stephen Yagman, who is representing Smith in a multimillion-dollar federal lawsuit against the LAPD.
“Obviously, the city believes Mr. Smith is going to prevail [in court]. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be paying this,” Yagman said.
Smith was shot in the leg by officers of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Special Investigation Section, who mistook him for a suspect in an armed robbery of The ClassRoom Bar in Northridge on Feb. 25, 1997.
Three suspects in the robbery were killed during a gun battle after officers chased the robbers into a cul-de-sac.
An LAPD use-of-force board concluded that the shooting was justified because Smith did not obey officers’ orders to halt as he approached them.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
