Shocking video LA police did not want public to see
The graphic footage shows the shooting of unarmed Ricardo Diaz Zeferino in June 2013. No officer was charged over the incident, but the city of Los Angeles paid the Diaz Zeferino family $4.7m.
Having reported to the police that his brother’s bicycle had been stolen, 34-year-old Richardo Diaz Zeferino went out on to the streets to look for it.
Officers acting on the report came across two men on bicycles and stopped them. They were friends of Diaz Zeferino, also looking for the missing bike. He rushed over to intervene, trying to tell the police they had stopped the wrong men.
The officers drew their guns. Diaz Zeferino, who was unarmed but drunk, raised his hands as instructed, but then lowered them again. When he took off his hat and lowered his arms for a third time, they opened fire eight times, killing him and wounding his friend.
The city of LA has made a $4.7m payment to the families of the men, but the authorities spent two years fighting to stop this video being released. The judge who made the decision to release the footage overruled police objections, saying taxpayers had a right to see what their tax money was being used to pay for.