A police error, a tragic death
June 11, 1969: A Los Angeles police officer shot and killed a man when the officer was looking for a sniper reportedly firing on the Hollywood Freeway.
The Times’ initial story said the unidentified man had opened fire on the officer and his partner, shooting the partner in the hand.
The next day, a different story came out: The dead man, Donald Lee Oughton, 29, had been running home to watch TV when police called for him to stop.
Illuminated by the patrol car’s headlights, he approached the officers, then reached into his back pocket for what they thought was a gun.
Rookie Officer Henry Kennedy fired, hitting his partner, Norman P. O’Malley, in the left index finger. O’Malley, thinking Oughton had shot him, fired at the man.
Oughton, it turned out, was unarmed. His mother, Pearl Rania, said that he had a severe speech defect and that she thought he had been reaching into his pocket for a card with his name and address.
The officers were cleared of criminal wrongdoing. Oughton’s mother sued for $1 million.
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