LAPD Chief: Decision to Recommend Criminal Charges Against Officer 'Obvious'

The decision to recommend criminal charges against one of his officers was difficult but "obvious," Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said Tuesday.

In a rare move, he said he called L.A. District Attorney Jackie Lacey in late December to tell her he believed Officer Clifford Proctor committed a crime when he shot Brendon Glenn, an unarmed African-American homeless man in Venice last May.

"I’ve reviewed hundreds of officer-involved shootings since I’ve been chief of police," Beck told reporters. He’s served at the top of the department since 2011.

But this case was different.

The shooting occurred outside a bar, just steps from the famed Venice Beach boardwalk. Two LAPD officers were struggling with Glenn after complaints he’d been harassing people.

An attorney for Proctor says the officer believed Glenn was going for his partner’s gun when he shot him twice in the back.

An officer’s perception important -- the Supreme Court has ruled even if an officer’s perception is wrong, the shooting is legal if he or she reasonably believed lives were in danger. Reasonableness is based on what an officer with similar training and experience would do in similar circumstances.

Beck said the shooting failed to meet that standard.

Read the full story via KPCC