Read the whole thing for context. It's LA, not Philly. But if you're old enough to remember Frank Rizzo's PD clear a Philadelphia park of angry demonstrators, well, ... let's just say, you know what park clearing really is. And there were no 13 million dollar settlements paid with taxpayer dollars afterwards. They were just happy as hell to be alive! How I miss the good old days. Heh!
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A protest over the fatal police shooting of a Guatemalan immigrant turned violent when some demonstrators threw bottles at officers, set trash cans on fire and refused to disperse.
When officers confronted the man, they ordered him to drop the knife but he refused, Lt. Andrew Neiman said.
"Instead, he came after the officers with a knife raised in the air, leading one of the officers to fire at the suspect," Neiman said.
Authorities have not released the man's name. However, friends identified him as Manuel Jamines, 37, a construction worker and father of three.
Protesters contend the man was not dangerous and say officers should have used a non-lethal weapon to subdue him.
"When you're trying to stop a suspect or stop a deadly action, the purpose is to stop the threat as quickly as possible," Neiman said.
MacArthur Park was the site of a May 1, 2007, clash, where police officers pummeled immigration rights marchers and reporters with batons and shot rubber bullets into the crowd. Dozens of protesters and journalists were injured as officers cleared the park.
The embarrassing incident cost the city more than $13 million in lawsuit settlements. Police were retrained on crowd control, forming skirmish lines, using batons in a crowd and using extraction teams to identify and arrest violent demonstrators.
