Hundreds took to the streets to protest in Anaheim, California, after an off-duty Los Angeles Police Department officer fired his weapon while arguing with a teenage boy. Nobody was hurt, but the boy, 13, along with his 15-year-old friend, both…
Hundreds took to the streets to protest in Anaheim, California, after an off-duty Los Angeles Police Department officer fired his weapon while arguing with a teenage boy.
Nobody was hurt, but the boy, 13, along with his 15-year-old friend, both unnamed because of their minor ages, were taken into custody.
Various media report the 15-year-old was arrested on assault and battery, but was released into the custody of parents. The 13-year-old was arrested on suspicion of battery and making criminal threats, but it’s not clear if he’s yet been released. The O. C. Register reported he’s still in jail; KTLA said he was released shortly after being detained.
Protest organizers said the rally was aimed at pressing authorities to bring the officer up on charges.
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LAPD said the officer, who’s not been identified, was placed on administrative leave.
The rally turned violent, leading to the arrests of 24 on charges ranging from resisting arrest to battery of a law enforcement officer, said Anaheim Police Department Sgt. Daron Wyatt, KTLA reported.
Others in the protest camp tried to break into the officer’s home, shattering windows at his house and on his car. The violence spread to other homes in the neighborhood, as well, and police reported receipt of several complaints of broken windows and smashed car windows.
The altercation between the officer and the 13-year-old teenage boy was captured on cell phone video.
Police said the argument stemmed from ongoing issues the officer was having with the teen, and his friends, over trespassing on his personal property.
Police also said the teen allegedly threatened to shoot the officer, who was off-duty during the time of incident. But cell phone video doesn’t show that, and the boy says he never threatened the officer.
The officer, for his part, told authorities he was trying to detain the teen until other officers could arrive and arrest him on charges tied to the alleged death threat, and it was during that time the altercation grew physical, the O. C. Register reported. That’s when the officer pulled his gun and fired it into the air, various news outlets reported.
Either way, protesters said to KTLA the officer had no just cause to fire his weapon.
“At the end of the day there is no justification for him to pull a gun out, and he pulled it out around a crowd of children,” one female protestor told KTLA. “If he is a police officer he should know better.”
Of those arrested from the protests, 10 were men, eight women, three male minors and three female minors, the O. C. Register reported.
“Police State USA: How Orwell’s Nightmare Is Becoming Our Reality” chronicles how America has arrived at the point of being a de facto police state, and what led to an out-of-control government that increasingly ignores the Constitution. Order today!
