No Charges for 2 LAPD Officers in Ezell Ford Killing

The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office determined Tuesday that officers who shot Ezell Ford in South Los Angeles in 2014 acted in self-defense and will not be charged criminally. The decision, revealed in a news release, brings to a close the family’s push to see officers prosecuted for what they called an unjust shooting.

“My son, he had been in trouble before. But nevertheless, he didn’t do anything that would warrant him being murdered in the street like he was on the night of Aug. 11, 2014,” Tritobia Ford said Tuesday afternoon during a news conference at First AME Church’s Allen House on South Harvard Boulevard. “It was unwarranted. It was unjustified. And as I say, I believe God will have the final say. They may have gotten by right now, but it’s not over. They will have their day.”

But prosecutors said Ford posed an immediate threat to officers’ safety.

“Our office has a daunting challenge each and every time there is an officer-involved shooting,” District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in the news release. “In this case, we did everything we could to ensure a comprehensive investigation. Although the loss of Mr. Ford’s life is tragic, we believe the officers’ actions were legally justified and the evidence supports our decision.”

LAPD officers Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas had been working the Newton Division gang unit together for five months when they encountered Ford on Aug. 11, 2014, as he walked away from a group on a corner. They asked him to stop and instead he sped up his pace. They caught up with him in the driveway of a nearby house.

Wampler came up behind Ford, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, according to the DA’s findings. The officer said he pulled back Ford’s right shoulder to handcuff him. There was a struggle, with Ford and Wampler ending up on the ground. Wampler said he felt Ford reaching for his gun and he yelled that to his partner. Both of them fired.

Ford was shot three times. One shot hit his upper front torso, one struck behind the arm, and the third was by Wampler, who reached around Ford with his backup weapon and shot him in the back. The gun was close enough to leave a muzzle mark on his back, according to the Los Angeles County coroner’s autopsy.

The entire episode — from the moment Wampler and Villegas stepped out of the car, until the shots were fired — took 13 seconds, according to investigators.

The Los Angeles Police Commission in June 2015 had found Wampler violated policy by chasing Ford and that because of that, the shooting was also out of policy.

In its official letter to the LAPD declining to charge the officers, the DA’s office seemed to disagree, saying Wampler had “reasonable suspicion” to go after him. It also said it considered DNA evidence that showed Ezell Ford was on top of Wampler, trying to grab the officer’s gun.

Federico Sayre, the attorney representing the Ford family, said the DA’s decision, while unfortunate, was not unexpected.

On Tuesday, Lacey told The Associated Press she called Ford’s mother to explain the findings of her office’s investigation, and that no further action will be taken. The district attorney said Tritobia Ford was upset and that it felt “like she was reliving it all over again.”

Tritobia Ford is party to a state lawsuit related to the case — and reached a conditional settlement with the city of Los Angeles. The agreement was reached in November, and has been approved by the city’s Claims Board. It has been awaiting action by the city’s budget and finance committee since last month.

The DA’s office hasn’t charged a law enforcement officer in L.A. County with criminal charges related to an on-duty shooting since 2000, according to a KPCC analysis published in 2015.

Ford’s death in South Los Angeles came just two days after a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, shot and killed Michael Brown in the summer of 2014.

LAPD Public Information Officer for Media Relations Tony Im declined to comment on the district attorney’s announcement.

The DA’s decision supports Police Chief Charlie Beck, who had said an internal investigation led him to the conclusion that Wampler and Villegas were right to shoot and had acted in self-defense.

In August, the officers filed their own lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court. In the lawsuit Wampler and Villegas alleged they’re being unfairly held back despite LAPD Chief Charlie Beck’s finding that they acted appropriately.

They called the L.A. Police Commission “an inexperienced group of political appointees” without the knowledge to make that decision.

The commission and its inspector general, Alex Bustamante, had found Wampler’s tactics and use of deadly force leading up to the shooting fell outside departmental guidelines and because of that, so did his decision to shoot.

Villegas generally acted within department policy, the commission determined, though it did take issue with the way Villegas unholstered his weapon when he stepped out of the patrol car prior to the shooting along 65th Street near Broadway.

In a statement, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti said he accepts the district attorney’s decision, and reiterated support for the police commission’s efforts to train LAPD officers in de-escalation techniques. He also praised Ford’s mother.

“Tritobia Ford has been a model for all of us throughout this painful process. A model of peace and strength, and an example of the grace and wisdom that I pray will bring healing to all who have been touched by this tragedy, and inspire everyone … who is committed to making our streets safer for civilians and the officers sworn to serve and protect them.”