Homeless man shot by LAPD officer

Millions of people have already seen it online. A mobile phone recording of another “officer involved shooting” as it’s called here.

It shows a black man being wrestled to the ground by four police officers, a struggle, and then a white officer drawing his handgun and firing it repeatedly into the man’s body at close range.

According to activists on social media, the man was known as Africa, and was from Cameroon.

It’s reported he was living in a tent on Skid Row, in downtown LA. A homeless man, they say, with a long history of mental illness.

On Sunday, there appears to have been a fight before the police arrived. According to the LAPD: “The officers attempted to use a Taser to subdue him, but the suspect continued to fight.

“While on the ground, the suspect and officers struggled over one of the officer’s handguns and then an officer-involved shooting occurred.”

There appears to be no attempt to revive, or provide medical support to the man who is shot.

The video shows officers standing around, until reinforcements arrive. One appears to try to handcuff the dead or dying man.

Another police killing of a black man to add to the list that includes most recently the names of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Eric Garner in Staten Island, and Akai Gurley in Brooklyn.

On Friday, Attorney General Eric Holder, who soon leaves office, indicated he’s looking for a change in the burden of proof required under civil rights laws before federal charges can be laid against police.

He told Politico: “I think some serious consideration needs to be given to the standard of proof that has to be met before federal involvement is appropriate and that’s something that I’m going to be talking about before I leave office.”

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