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Title: Anger Flares in L.A. After Fatal Police Shooting
Source:
NY times
URL Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/09/u ... tests.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Published: Sep 8, 2010
Author: ANA FACIO CONTRERAS
Post Date: 2010-09-08 23:12:24 by Undocumented
Keywords: None
Views: 204
Comments: 9
LOS ANGELES — City officials and Guatemalan leaders have moved to calm feelings and quell anger after the fatal shooting of a Guatemalan construction worker by a Los Angeles police officer set off two nights of violent protests in a neighborhood populated largely by Central American immigrants. On Monday and Tuesday nights, people perched on rooftops in the Westlake district were seen hurling objects at officers in riot gear as they sought to control crowds of as many of 300 people who were yelling and waving fists. The Rampart police station was pelted with rocks, bottles and eggs, officials said. A spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department, Richard French, said there were 18 arrests: 4 on Monday on charges of inciting to riot and 14 on Tuesday for failure to disperse. Mr. French said one officer was slightly injured Tuesday by a thrown object. The construction worker, Manuel Jaminez, 37, was shot by Officer Frank Hernandez on Sunday afternoon in a confrontation that involved three police officers on bicycles at Sixth Street and Union Avenue, the authorities said. According to the police, Mr. Jaminez was intoxicated and had threatened a woman with a knife. He refused to drop his knife when ordered by Officer Hernandez, the authorities said. Charlie Beck, the Los Angeles police chief, said on Tuesday that there would be a thorough investigation of the shooting. The reputation of the police department has improved markedly across this city, and particularly in minority neighborhoods, since the days of Rodney G. King, whose beating by the police in 1991 was videotaped. Acquittal of the officers at trial in 1992 set of days of rioting. Officer Hernandez, a 13-year veteran, is Latino and reportedly spoke in Spanish to Mr. Jaminez as he tried to defuse the situation. On Wednesday afternoon, residents and police officers congregated around the shooting site, where votive candles and a donation box with Mr. Jaminez’s photograph had been placed. Police officials scheduled a community meeting for Wednesday night to hear grievances. Still, tensions were high in a neighborhood heavily populated with immigrants from Guatemala, many of whom speak their own dialect and little English or Spanish. “Some were people who live here and are angry at the way police treat Hispanics,” said Marco Mendez, 41, a neighborhood resident and immigrant from Guatemala. “It’s a shame that they killed him in broad daylight.” A Westlake resident, Fredy Corrido, 52, said he had never seen so many police officers in the neighborhood. “They’re being nice right now because of all the TV cameras,” he said. The Guatemalan consul general, Pablo García Saenz, said Wednesday that the demonstrators were not part of the local Guatemalan community or associated with Mr. Jaminez’s family. “Our community is asking for justice and a transparent investigation,” Mr. García Saenz said. “The family of Manuel Jaminez has not asked people to go out in the street and protest. We’re a peaceful community, and we don’t encourage violence. Violence is not the way to get justice.” Mr. Mendez said, however, that many of the protesters were in fact from the neighborhood and were reacting to the killing. Mr. García Saenz said the family was waiting for the coroner’s report and the return of Mr. Jaminez’s body. The family plans to bury Mr. Jaminez, the father of three, in his native Guatemala.
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#9. To: Undocumented (#0)
Dead's dead, isn't it? Would it have been better if they had waited until dark to shoot him?
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Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest“Some were people who live here and are angry at the way police treat Hispanics,” said Marco Mendez, 41, a neighborhood resident and immigrant from Guatemala. “It’s a shame that they killed him in broad daylight.”
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