dangerous objects

Brendon Glenn was near Venice Beach in Los Angeles, California, on May 5, 2015, when someone called the police to report a homeless man harassing customers outside of a restaurant. Officers Clifford Proctor and Jonathan Kawahara arrived at the scene and recognized that Glenn was slurring his speech and stumbling. He started to walk away, so the officers decided against arresting him. Glenn later got into a fight with a bouncer at a bar, so the officers planned to take him into custody. The police report says the officers grabbed his arm and struggled with Glenn trying to break free. Proctor said he believed that Glenn was reaching for his partner’s gun, so he shot him twice. The bar’s security footage shows one of the officers grabbing Glenn by his hair and wrestling him down to the ground. Proctor took a couple of steps back and fired the two shots at Glenn from point blank range. Glenn was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. He was 29 years old.

 

Officer Kawahara refutes Proctor’s story and says that he didn’t see or feel Glenn reaching for his gun. Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Investigators believe Glenn was on his stomach when Proctor fired twice, hitting Glenn in the back. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck believes that the shooting was unjustified, and the Police Commission sided with him. Beck recommended that Proctor should be charged with manslaughter. Although he gave this recommendation, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office declined to charge Proctor with the fatal shooting, citing “insufficient evidence” to prove he didn’t act within the law when he killed Glenn. Proctor has since resigned from the department.

 

The City of Los Angeles awarded Glenn’s family $4 million to settle their wrongful death lawsuit. Although many knew him in the area as a homeless man with his dog, Glenn’s sister says, “Brendon was not a homeless man but rather a family man who simply went on a trip to explore a new work opportunity.”

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Sources: 

CBS Los Angeles. (2018, March 08). Prosecutors Decline To File Charges In Police Shooting That Left Homeless Man Dead. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uljs3I-LGrM

 

Harriot, M. (2018, March 20). Even Cops Think the Officer Who Killed Brendon Glenn Should Be Prosecuted. Los Angeles' Prosecutor Doesn't. Retrieved from https://www.theroot.com/even-cops-think-the-officer-who-killed-brendon-glenn-sh-1823904364

 

Lloyd, J. (2018, March 09). DA Declines to Charge Ex-Officer in Fatal Venice Shooting. Retrieved from https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Venice-Police-Shooting-LAPD-Officer-476282913.html

 

Martinez, M. (2015, May 07). LAPD kills unarmed Brendon Glenn at Venice Beach. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2015/05/07/us/lapd-kills-unarmed-man-venice-beach/index.html

 

Mather, K. (2016, April 12). LAPD killing of unarmed homeless man in Venice was unjustified, Police Commission says. Retrieved from https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-lapd-venice-shooting-20160412-story.html

 

Southern California Public Radio, & Stoltze, F. (2018, March 8). No charges for ex-LAPD officer who killed Brendon Glenn. Retrieved from https://www.scpr.org/news/2018/03/08/81467/no-charges-for-lapd-officer-who-killed-brendon-gle/

 

V. James DeSimone Law. (n.d.). Brendon Glenn Media Kit. Retrieved from https://www.vjamesdesimonelaw.com/brendon-glenn-media-kit/

 

V. James DeSimone Law. (2016, February 9). State and Federal Lawsuits Filed in LAPD Shooting of Brendon Glenn. Retrieved from https://www.vjamesdesimonelaw.com/state-and-federal-lawsuits-filed-in-lapd-shooting-of-brendon-glenn/