California deputies fatally shoot Black man during struggle
Associated Press | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years, 2 months AGO
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Orange County sheriff's deputies shot and killed a Black man Wednesday after he allegedly tried to grab one of their guns during a struggle, authorities said.
The latest killing of a Black person by law enforcement came the same day as the decision not to charge Kentucky police officers for Breonna Taylor’s death was announced. Taylor, a Black woman and an emergency medical worker, was shot multiple times by white officers after one of them was shot while bursting into her home during a narcotics investigation in March.
Part of the incident Wednesday afternoon in San Clemente, California, was captured on video and posted to social media by the Southern Orange County Black Lives Matter group. The man’s name has not been released by authorities.
A statement from the sheriff's department said two deputies, who are part of the Homeless Outreach Team, “made contact” with the man. The statement does not detail why the deputies stopped him in the first place in San Clemente, an affluent coastal city that's about 60 miles (97 kilometers) south of Los Angeles
In the video, the man is seen trying to walk past the deputies as they all stand in the middle of the street. He is heard shouting “stop touching me!" repeatedly as one of the deputies touches him several times and orders him to sit down on the curb.
“For what?” the man asks. “Because I'm telling you to," the deputy replies.
The deputy repeatedly shoves the man and both tackle him to the ground, where all three begin to wrestle on the sidewalk, the video shows. Vehicles driving along the street block the camera's view of the struggle as one shot rings out, then another about five seconds later.
“Surveillance video at the scene showed that during the physical altercation, the subject attempted to gain control of a deputy’s gun,” the sheriff's department statement said.
It's not clear from the social media video if the man tried to grab the firearm.
Witnesses described the man as “William” in his mid-30s, according to The Orange County Register. He may have been homeless and local residents said he appeared to have vision problems.
“He went to the flower store and asked for money because he was hungry,” Melinda Steinmetz told the newspaper. “Then he went to get something to eat and the next thing we knew, he was dead in the street.”
Hours later, in a separate incident about 50 miles (81 kilometers) north, an off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy shot a white man in the city of Whittier. The man, whose name was not released, is expected to survive his injuries, the sheriff's department said in a statement.
The deputies’ names in both incidents have not been released.
The LA sheriff's department has been the subject of recent criticism and protests after deputies fatally shot a Black man who they initially stopped for riding a bicycle in the wrong direction.
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