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He Had Outstanding Arrest Warrants, And Had Mistakenly Concluded That The Helicopter And The Police
(LAPD) received information linking appellee Robert Cunningham and Daniel Soly with an armed robbery in a nearby community. Members of LAPD's Special Investigative Services (SIS) put Cunningham and Soly under surveillance and watched them enter Southwest Liquor and Deli. The officers permitted the suspects to rob the store, although they had probable cause and the ability to arrest them before the crime took place. After Cunningham and Soly left the store, the officers used their police cars to "jam" the suspects' car, preventing their escape in the vehicle. According to Cunningham and the other plaintiffs in the ensuing S 1983 action, the officers opened fire with shotguns and handguns without announcing that they were police officers. Soly was shot dead, and Cunningham received a serious injury. The officers claimed that the robbers fired the first shots. A jury in Cunningham's criminal trial rejected his claim that the officers provoked the use of deadly force. On February 25, 1997, SIS members were surveilling the actions of Michael Smith, another suspected career criminal. They saw him and three others enter the Classroom Bar and immediately leave in a Mercury Topaz. LAPD tectives received a radio report that the Classroom had just been robbed. Another report pinpointed the location of the Topaz, and officers approached it. They saw muzzle flashes coming from the Topaz and heard gunfire. A passenger in the Topaz was appellee Grover Smith, who fit the description of the suspects. Detectives received a broadcast reporting that the Topaz was approaching their location, and drove their vehicle onto the sidewalk to block an escaping occupant of the Topaz. They saw a young AfricanAmerican standing on the street where a radio report had indicated the suspect might be located. He was looking up and down the street and appeared to see a police helicopter overhead.After hiding between a tree and a house, the individual ran when the officers approached him in their vehicle. The man was not the escaped robber, but Grover Smith, who ran because he had outstanding arrest warrants, and had mistakenly concluded that the helicopter and the police were there for him. Smith yelled "They're coming for us," and ran off. When the officers' vehicle approached him, he ran the other way. A second car blocked his path. Someone yelled "freeze," and he was shot in the leg. The officers claimed that he moved his hand toward his waistband as though reaching for a gun. Smith denied this.Cunningham, Smith, and Soly's survivors sued the police officers who had fired guns, those who assisted the shooters without firing, the Mayor of Los Angeles, members of the City Council, and several lawyers from the City Attorney's office. In three lawsuits, the complaints alleged that the police used excessive force; the Council members acquiesced in the use of excessive force, or engaged in an unconstitutional policy of indemnifying LAPD officers against punitive damages awards in excessive force cases.
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