Witnesses Question Killing of Suspect After Pursuit

The televised shooting by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy of a car-chase suspect who appeared to aim his car at a second deputy has stirred debate in the community about whether the action was justified.

It also marked the latest case of a deputy firing at a moving vehicle, a practice the Sheriff’s Department has been struggling to curb -- with limited success -- in recent years.

Lawrence Ronnell Taylor, 44, was fatally wounded about 7:45 p.m. Tuesday in the unincorporated area of Rosewood, near Compton, after a pursuit, sheriff’s officials said. Taylor ran several red lights and swerved in and out of traffic during the 20-minute chase.

At 142nd Street and Parmelee Avenue, Taylor’s by then slow-moving Nissan appeared to swerve toward a deputy who was placing a spike strip in the vehicle’s path, officials said. A second deputy fired seven shots at the driver.

“The suspect pointed his vehicle at the deputy, accelerated toward him, and then a second deputy fired at the suspect in the car, hitting him multiple times in the upper body,” said Sheriff’s Capt. Ray Peavy. “The deputy fired because he believed his partner was going to be hit and killed by the suspect’s car.”

Although the investigation is continuing, sheriff’s officials said their preliminary view is that the shooting was justified under the circumstances.

But several witnesses said deputies overreacted, because Taylor posed no threat to the officers with his low-speed evasion.

They also said the deputy who fired his weapon multiple times endangered the lives of residents in the neighborhood of single-family homes.

“It was ridiculous; they didn’t have to do it,” said Kerry Rosell, 44, a resident of 142nd Street who was standing outside about six houses away at the time. “You have 25 police cars chasing one car. Why don’t they block the neighborhood off and stop him?”

Shunta Smith, 20, also witnessed the shooting from her home at the intersection.

“They didn’t say, ‘Get back,’ they didn’t say, ‘Freeze,’ they didn’t say nothing,” Smith said of the deputies on the scene.

Michael Gennaco, head of the Office of Independent Review, said the Sheriff’s Department would examine the deputy’s tactics to determine whether he acted properly and whether other options were considered before he fired.

Under the sheriff’s new pursuit policy, deputies can shoot at a moving vehicle only when there is an immediate threat of death or serious injury. Officers are directed to, whenever possible, take cover from a safe distance, get out of the way and avoid firing in the direction of a fellow deputy.

The televised footage shows Taylor’s car swerving to the left of the spike strip toward the first deputy. The second deputy can be seen running along the right passenger side of the vehicle before taking aim with his 9-millimeter pistol and opening fire, hitting Taylor several times. He died a short time later at a local hospital.

Some area residents said Wednesday that deputies harassed Taylor because of prior run-ins with authorities. Sheriff’s investigators said Taylor had been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, domestic violence offenses and evading arrest.

Neighbors described him as the married father of three who was seen earlier in the day helping his mother move out of a neighborhood home.

It was the second fatal shooting of a suspect in a moving vehicle by sheriff’s deputies in two months. In June, several deputies fired more than 70 rounds at a moving car during a chase in the Walnut Park neighborhood, killing the driver. Investigators found a handgun in the vehicle but said deputies were unaware of the weapon when they opened fire.

The case remains under investigation.

Last year, a group of deputies fired dozens of rounds at a car-chase suspect in Compton, sending bullets flying into nearby homes.

After that incident, officials vowed to improve deputies’ training.

Najee Ali, executive director of the nonprofit civil rights organization Project Islamic HOPE, said he planned to request an independent federal investigation of Tuesday’s shooting and a meeting with Sheriff Lee Baca.

“The suspect was shot several times in his chest in what appears to be an out-of-policy shooting by a sheriff’s deputy who should have moved out of the way of any potential harm,” Ali said. “There has been too many shootings by deputies in Compton.”