Lawsuit filed over LAPD pursuit shooting
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A lawsuit has been filed over a fatal Los Angeles police shooting of an alleged reckless driver at the end of a pursuit.
Brian Beaird was shot and killed following a pursuit that ended in a crash in downtown Los Angeles on Dec. 14, 2013. The 51-year-old was unarmed.
Beaird's father, Billy, watched the whole thing live on TV and says the police officers who open fired were out of line.
"Without Brian, it will never be right. He was just too much part of my life," said Billy Beaird.
The Beaird family has filed a $20 million wrongful death Lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles and the police officers involved in the shooting.
"Either the policies and procedures of the L.A. Police Department are seriously flawed with them that allowed this to happen, or these officers thought it was OK to execute an unarmed citizen in the street," said John Beaird, Brian's brother.
John Beaird said his brother suffered from paranoia and that he was especially afraid of the police. He says he realizes police face life and death challenges every day, but seeing his brother shot so quickly when he jumped out of the Corvette makes him skeptical of police protocol.
"He wasn't out the car more than 30 seconds. What could they have said to him?" said John Beaird.
Attorneys representing the Beaird family question why police officers are not facing criminal charges stemming from the shooting.
"In these cases, without any prosecution, without any discipline or retraining to the officers, these shootings are going to continue to happen time and time again," said attorney Dale K. Galipo.
The LAPD wouldn't comment on the lawsuit. But Chief Charlie Beck did speak about the shooting in December.
"We will release a full report that will be reviewed not only by my staff, but by the inspector general, by the district attorney and by the police commission, which will make the ultimate finding on this," Beck said.
Beck said that the three officers involved in the shooting were to be assigned home pending the final results of the investigation.
The defense attorney believes if this case does go to trial, it will happen in about a year. At that time, we will learn the identities of the officers involved in the shooting.
