They were unarmed when police shot at them. Then LAPD pushed for weapons charges
LOS ANGELES — After Joshua Hatfield fled a traffic stop in late June, a police officer thought the 28-year-old was armed and shot at him outside an apartment building. But no gun was found at the scene.
In the case of Jermaine Petit, officers responding to a report of a man with a gun encountered the 39-year-old walking through Leimert Park. Believing the object in his hand to be a gun, police opened fire. Petit was holding a car part.
After both shootings, Los Angeles police acknowledged neither man had a gun. Yet the department pressed ahead with weapons cases against them: Petit for carrying an imitation firearm and Hatfield on suspicion of assaulting an officer with a deadly weapon.
The district attorney's office declined to file charges against Hatfield. Police said the case against Petit is pending. An LAPD spokeswoman said last week that she couldn't comment on either case because both remain under investigation.
The decision to push for charges against Petit and Hatfield has drawn
