On Wednesday night LAPD Chief Charlie Beck addressed a very angry crowd of about 300 at the John H. Liechty Middle School in Westlake after two night of protests that turned violent. (Here’s the LA Times report. And here’s the AP’s report.)
The meeting had been called to help diffuse the anger over the fatal shooting by police of immigrant worker Manuel Jamines, 37, who was drunk and wielding what was reported to be a 3-inch serrated switch blade.
Residents say that, knife or no knife, Jamines was a well-known local man who often drank too much but who was known not to be dangerous. LAPD spokespeople have countered that Jamines had plenty of opportunity to drop his weapon, what with cops pointing guns at him and shouting in two languages, but that he did not, and instead lunged aggressively at officers.
The truth likely lies somewhere between those two poles.
Whatever, the case, the community’s upset can no longer be palmed off on agitators but appears to be genuine.
On the other hand, Beck has, to his credit, made a large effort to be present and out front on this incident.
In addition, new LAPD Inspector General Nicole Bershon also attended the meeting, which was also a smart move in that is one more signal that the investigation will be serious.
Yet, those at the meeting were evidently not calmed by the officials.
KNBC TV reporter Angie Crouch was tweeting live from the meeting. Among her last few tweets are these:
Some Westlake residents accuse Lapd of harassing minorities. Inspector General promises a fair investigation into police shooting
One Former Westlake resident praises cops for making neighborhood safer.. Crowd boos her.
Guatamalan consulate calls for An end to violence & asks community to allow investigation to unfold.
Lapd Chf says “we don’t train cops to take knives away from people” but promises a fair review of shooting. Crowd boos
At 8:30 p.m., KFI reported that the police were blocking the streets in Westlake, obviously expecting yet another night of furious demonstrations. So much for defusing the tensions.
May everyone—residents and police—stay safe.
People who knew this guy say he would never pull a knife out on cops. It’s not that they have a lot of credibility with me, but the cops have just about none. A pair of threes beats a pair of twos.
Of the Wall (El Menso), has not heard the statements of two women who said the drunk illegal alien tried to stab them with the knife. The cops were called to the area by people who were scared of a drunk on the street with a knife.
“Some Westlake residents accuse Lapd of harassing minorities.”
The Westlake area where an outdoor swap-meet is held everyday across the sreeet from the Food-For-Less with food vendors sell corn on the cob and bacon-wrapped hot dogs with out any health department permit.
Or the Westlake area where “vendors” of Social-Security cards and California IDs are sold openly on every corner for the “immigrant workers”.
Or the Westlake area where drugs dealers and drunk immigrant workers can be found daily at McArthur Park.
Or the Westlake area where 18th street gang members collect “taxes” from the street vendors. Remember the baby that was killed when a vendor was late paying his taxes?
So the cops killed a drunken fool who brought a knife to a gunfight. Oh well. Shit happens when you’re drunk and waving a knife around. Usually it’s bad shit that happens. When the cops show up and tell you to drop the knife in English AND Spanish and you refuse, it’s guaranteed bad shit is going to happen. That’s what we pay the cops for. They were called there by somebody who didn’t want to handle the problem. The cops handled it.
Some people don’t like it. Too bad.
We’ll make the question of the day multiple choice so the less intellectual whiners have at least a 33% chance of getting it correct.
Cops have guns to:
A: Look cool.
B: Use as a paper weight.
C. Shoot drunken idiots with knives.
“Some people don’t like it. Too bad.”
Dirty Harry?
WTF Says:
September 8th, 2010 at 10:44 pm
The Westlake area where an outdoor swap-meet is held everyday across the sreeet from the Food-For-Less with food vendors sell corn on the cob and bacon-wrapped hot dogs with out any health department permit.
…………………….
NO!!! GOD HELP US!!!
The cops shot a drunk fool with a knife.
NO!!! GOD HELP US!!!
Lapd Chf says “we don’t train cops to take knives away from people” but promises a fair review of shooting.
Translation:
“We train cops to shoot drunks with knives. The cops will be cleared because they did what they’re trained to do. Talk to Mayor V if you’ve got a problem with it”.
Translation:
“If he were a white UCLA student, we would have given him more time to drop the knife”
Nope Rob, I would have shot the guy if that’s what the situation called for no matter his looks. Was stabbed once, won’t let it happen again. Maybe you should check out some of the “edged weapons” videos and tell us how you would have handled the situation.
Just kidding Rob, I already know you would have ran and later posted trash about the cops who stepped to the plate to handle things.
Sure Fire, you would have shot him if he held up a flower.
Now that I’ve finally been able to catch my breath from laughing so hard, I’ve got to give Rob his props. That shit is hilarious. A FLOWER!!!! Where does he come up with his material? A FLOWER!!! hahahahahahahahaha. Watch out Eric Lokke. There’s a new kid on the block.
“If he were a white UCLA student”
QB Rob huddles up the offense on this thing and calls the play.
“Slot left…RACISM”.
Charlie Beck calls the defense from the nest. The defense lines up in their Cover 2 package. Officer HERNANDEZ will blitz off the corner.
Rob can’t audible at the line of scrimmage because that’s the only play in his playbook.
Officer HERNANDEZ sacks Rob.
AND THE CROWD GOES WILD!!!!!!!!!!
Wait, we have a flag. I think they’re going to call helmet to helmet on Hernandez. And it looks like there’s a flag down field for pass interference as well.
Al, this just continues to be the problem with the LAPD. Too many penalties, no discipline. It takes them out of every game.
Upon further review….
Officer HERNANDEZ fired the shots.
There is no penalty on the play.
I guess Rob never played football. He doesn’t know that if the QB gets sacked there CANNOT be a pass interference penalty.
Good call, ATQ. It would be called defensive holding if the ball was never in the air. You’re an expert on everything. Gangs and crime in Los Angeles, and football. You’re Howard Cossell meets Chris Blatchford…or perhaps Howard Cossell meets Tony Rafael?
Rob’s out of ammo again.
And he’s still delusionally obsessing that I’m Tony Rafael.
lol.
I never said you were Tony Rafael, I said you were like him. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. He’s uber cool. youtube him. Dude knows EVERYTHING about gangs, all the cholo vernacular and everything. And, he’s like this Santa Barbara businessman type.
# Sure Fire Says:
September 9th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Rob’s out of ammo again.
………….
Pffft. Sheeeeeeit. You’ve been out of ammo since you got here. And brain cells.
Oh, I kid, SF. I’ll buy you a beer.
I never claimed to be an expert on gangs. That was Rob’s and his buddy Don Quixote’s claim to fame. Looks like he’s just making shit up as he goes along again because the facts don’t back him up. You know, like making this statement:
“People who knew this guy say he would never pull a knife out on cops”
And he got that info. from where exactly? No source cited. Did he talk to friends of the guy? lol. There’s documented proof that the drunken fool was waving a knife around prior to the cops getting there. Somebody called the cops because he was waving it around. Sooooooo,,,,he didn’t have to “pull a knife out on cops”…he already had it out when they arrived at the scene. OOOOOPPPPSSSSSS!!!!!!! Another factual fuck up by Rob in an attempt to distort the truth and provoke hatred toward the cops.
Because of course, the truth is way too simple and is not provocative to anybody with a triple digit IQ.
Fact: Some citizen called the cops because there was a drunk waving a knife around.
Fact: The person who called the cops perceived the drunk to be a threat to them or others or they wouldn’t have called the cops.
Fact: Forty (40) seconds passed between the time the cops arrived and the time the shots were fired. The cops did not jump out of their car with guns blazing.
Fact: All of the above facts are provable through call logs and police radio transmissions.
Fact: The last name of the cops who fired the shots is Hernandez. (Bye-bye racism claim).
When the facts are taken into account without being distorted by made up emotional statements from those with a preconceived mindset that the cops are always wrong, the incident doesn’t provoke any hatred towards the cops. The facts don’t back up the claim that the cops were a bunch of trigger happy racist cowboys. The facts show that the cops were doing their job.
But the facts don’t allow the cop haters to spread their message. So, they just make shit up as they go along and offer their OPINION as fact.
You can’t get less intellectual than that.
DQ was awesome. Great stories about EAST LA back in the day. He was a great contributor to InTheHat. He still blogs at LA Eastside.com sometimes. What I could never understand is that those angry, deranged commenters at in the hat hated him so much. He was as much of an expert on the life as anyone with a great deal to offer, and they just hated him. LOL. What was the matter with those guys?
FACT: Sometimes even rumors paint a better picture of the situation than misleading facts.
DQ showed some class, even when I disagreed with him. Rob has never shown a hint of it.
DQ was a breath of fresh air at that In The HAt snakepit, full of angry, drunk cops with seriously racist agendas.
Your attempts at trying to bait people doesn’t cover your failure to cite your source for the statement you made in post #1. That’s because there is no source. You just make shit up. Then when you get called on it you retreat to being a smartass.
“misleading facts.
lol. Now there’s a statement that definitely shows a lack of education.
Rob is a loon, he’s here only to entertain and he’s not very good at it.
Are you guys like the Siskel and Ebert of this blog?
Or maybe the two guys from “Men on Film”, from In Living Color?
Two snaps up and around the world
Wishful thinking Rob?