2nd Video Is Said to Justify Shooting

A spokesman for the city of Downey said Wednesday that a second, unreleased video of the police shooting of Gonzalo Martinez shows Martinez’s hands were not raised at the time, supporting the city’s contention that the shooting was justified.

A video of the Feb. 15 shooting, taped by a freelancer, has brought months of protests in Downey and was shown repeatedly on local Spanish-language television and in Argentina, where Martinez’s parents came from. But the case has frustrated the family because it has drawn less attention than the highly publicized beating of a 16-year-old in Inglewood in July.

On Wednesday, the family again held a news conference at the offices of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. Afterward, the city spokesman detailed the contents of the second tape.

Robert Alaniz of Hill & Knowlton, the public relations firm hired by the city to represent it in the case, said the second video, shot with a camera mounted on the dashboard of a police car that had pursued Martinez, would not be released until the district attorney’s office finishes its investigation of the Feb. 15 shooting.

The second video was shot at a different angle from the footage that has aired on television. That initial tape shows Martinez, 26, with at least one arm raised. He was unarmed, police have confirmed.

Alaniz said the police video would be made available to the media “when, as we expect, the district attorney concurs with [our opinion], that this shooting was justified.”

He said the district attorney’s office has been provided with the police video.

Downey “is trying to urge the D.A. to push forward on his investigation,” Alaniz said.

At the district attorney’s office, however, spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said no one from the city “has asked us to speed up.”

Gibbons said the “wrap-up” of the investigation began only after May 1, when the Downey police delivered its investigative findings on the shooting, and then was delayed by the July 6 police videotaped beating case in Inglewood, which initially was assigned to the same senior investigator.

After Inglewood, “we had to assign another investigator to the Downey case,” Gibbons said. Now, she said, it may take another two to three weeks to finish the Downey investigation.

The FBI also is investigating the Martinez shooting, which has led to demonstrations by the Martinez family and Latino activists.

On Tuesday, the city agreed to allow another protest march Saturday. The ACLU had threatened to sue to force Downey to open its streets to demonstrators.

According to the police account, the shooting occurred after a 12-minute chase, during which Martinez at one point backed his car toward officers in an apparent attempt to run them over. A coroner’s report added that, when Martinez later emerged from his car, he made “furtive” movements with one hand, which led the police to open fire.

Steve Lerman, the attorney who is representing the family in a lawsuit against the city, said that he has been trying, so far without success, to obtain a copy of the police video and that he believes there may even be a third video, shot from a police helicopter.

In any case, Lerman said, the district attorney’s investigation has had access to eyewitnesses who believe that the police shooting of Martinez was not justified.

If the eyewitnesses are given proper credence, “they’ll have no choice but to find that this shooting was not only not justified but was a criminal act,” Lerman said.