Good: Judge orders video released of police killing unarmed man

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A federal judge ordered a suburban Los Angeles city on Tuesday to release video of police fatally shooting an unarmed man two years ago.

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The public should be able to see what led the city of Gardena to pay $4.7 million to settle a lawsuit with the family of the dead man and another man wounded in the shooting, Judge Stephen V. Wilson said.

“The fact that they spent the city’s money, presumably derived from taxes, only strengthens the public’s interest in seeing the videos,” Wilson wrote in his 13-page decision. “Moreover, defendants cannot assert a valid compelling interest in sealing the videos to cover up any wrongdoing on their part or to shield themselves from embarrassment.”

But the order was stayed by a federal appeals court late in the day - hours after the court had released what Wilson said were “potentially upsetting and disturbing because of the events they depict,” but “not overly gory or graphic” videos.

A lawyer representing The Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg had asserted there is intense public scrutiny of police shootings nationwide. The media organizations asked the judge to unseal the videos under a First Amendment right to access court documents.

“We applaud the court’s decision to unseal the video,” AP spokesman Paul Colford said. “The Associated Press, joining with other news organizations, believes it’s important that the public has access to videos like this to better understand the actions of their police officers.”

Footage shot from three police-car cameras shows the killing of Ricardo Diaz-Zeferino, who was stopped with two other friends by police investigating a bicycle theft early the morning of June 2, 2013.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/14/judge-orders-video-released-of-police-killing-unar/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS

Good: Judge orders video released of police killing unarmed man

Good: Judge orders video released of police killing unarmed man

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