Decision to Shoot Lee
* Re “Officer Believed He Was About to Be Shot,” Commentary, Nov. 12: While it is Ted Hunt’s and Mitzi Grasso’s job to protect LAPD officers, their defense is misplaced. I do not dispute that an officer’s job in the field is “laden with fear and doubt.” But all human beings, especially those in law enforcement, observe their surroundings.
This officer knew that this was a Halloween party at a million-dollar home, in a million-dollar neighborhood, with privately hired security on the grounds. People were in costume, and who is to say that, on first glance, the officers were not seen as just guests in believable costumes, as Anthony Dwain Lee might have thought. The officer should have taken this into his thoughts before pulling the trigger nine times.
As in the case with the elderly woman with the screwdriver, some LAPD officers have impulse-control problems, and it is time that the authorities cop to it. The officers may have a Police Protective League, but we mere citizens do not.
DAVID DURAN
Porter Ranch
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.
