NEW: A longtime LAPD SWAT insider turned whistleblower who alleged the elite tactical unit is controlled by a violent inner circle known as the “SWAT Mafia” has further detailed his claims in a startling new deposition.

STORY w/ @LAcrimes @liborjany:https://t.co/rhEZB5HDpg

— Kevin Rector (@kevrector) May 5, 2023

Read the story here: https://t.co/zyPQWWANsA

— New York Magazine Communications (@nymagPR) May 10, 2023

If someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis and they are not an imminent threat to others, do not call the police for "help". The only reasons to call the police are if you want something shot or thrown in prison.

A man in South Carolina is suing police after they shot at him 47 times during a mental health crisis. York County sheriff's deputies were responding to a wellness check for Trevor Mullinax, 29, and immediately used deadly force without trying to deescalate. pic.twitter.com/LmrLzwWigo

— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) May 11, 2023

https://www.propublica.org/article/nypd-kawaski-trawick-killing-investigation-questions



Sequence of events in the fatal shooting of Kawasaki Trawick, who suffered from mental illness:

1) Trawick, locked out of his apartment, calls 911. A security guard also calls 911 saying Trawick is behaving erratically, yelling and knocking on doors while holding a large stick, but has not attacked anyone.

2) Fire Department arrives, lets Trawick back into his apartment.

3) Two police officers, Davis and Thompson, arrive and knock on Trawick's door. He does not open the door but it opens anyway when Davis pushes it, dislodging a chain lock. When the door begins to open, Thompson takes out his taser. They immediately encounter Trawick who is standing at a kitchen stove next to the door holding that large stick in one hand and a bread knife in another. Thompson immediately points the taser at Trawick. Davis, the much more experienced officer (16 years to Thompson's 3 years) tells Thompson they're not going to use the taser.

4) Davis asks Trawick to put down the knife but Trawick does not comply. Trawick agitatedly asks why the officers opened his door, why they are in his home, and repeatedly tells them to get out. At this point Thompson notices the knife and takes out his gun while Davis quietly tells him "don't, don't, don't".

5) Davis and Thompson repeatedly tell Trawick to drop the knife but he continues to not comply, telling officers he has the knife because he is cooking. He also mutters incoherently "hold it, hold it, the center, the center, the center of the brain." Then, without warning, Thompson shoots Trawick with the taser, enraging him. Thompson raises his gun but Davis again says "don't, don't" while Trawick screams "Get out *****! I'm going to kill you all! Get out!"

6) While he is screaming, Trawick hops around in pain, first away from officers and then toward them as they are still in the doorway. Thompson then repeatedly shoots Trawick with his gun.

The internal police investigation cleared both officers of wrongdoing,

Thompson told investigators that he only used his taser after Trawick took "a step forward, like he wanted to come at us." Video indisputably contradicts Thompson's claim. Trawick was standing still muttering incoherently when Thompson tasered him.

Thompson also told investigators that after tasering Trawick he again ordered Trawick to drop the knife before shooting Trawick with the gun. This is also a false statement. In the 14 seconds between tasering Trawick and shooting him with the gun, officers said nothing to him. Investigators never challenged their account with the video footage.

Instead they worked to keep the video away from the public for over a year, claiming that releasing the footage would harm the investigation. They held to the conclusion of "no wrongdoing" even though the justification Thompson offered for firing his taser (Trawick allegedly 'coming at them') was proven false and the officers violated department policy for dealing with "emotionally disturbed" persons to begin with. Once they identified a person who is "emotionally disturbed" they are supposed to "isolate and contain" the individual and immediately request the intervention of a supervisor and an Emergency Services Unit.

There is a substantial possibility that Trawick's death could have been avoided if the officers had followed department policy and called for aid to begin with instead of trying to resolve the issue themselves. This outcome might also have been avoided if Thompson had followed Davis' lead and not drawn his taser or gun. Obviously Trawick might also not have been killed if Thompson had not inexplicably decided to taser Trawick with no provocation.

Terrible as those mistakes were, in my opinion the worst offense from a systemic perspective happens in the aftermath. Thompson indisputably gave a false statement when offering his justification for tasering Trawick. This statement was not challenged by police investigators even though they had incontrovertible video evidence that it was false. Instead the department goes into CYA mode, devoting all of its energies into preventing the public from holding anyone accountable for the grave mistakes made during the entire episode. This unfortunately is all too typical behavior by police agencies across the country.

Officer Herbert Davis, a Black more experienced officer, *repeatedly* told his junior, white partner, Brendan Thompson, not to use force

But when Davis was interviewed by NYPD investigators just hours later, he—falsely —says there was no conversation between him & his partner. pic.twitter.com/6DtLPp3Iv5

— Eric Umansky (@ericuman) May 13, 2023

Here, you can hear NYPD investigators question Thompson, the officer who shot Trawick

Trawick had been holding a bread knife, asking the officers, "Why are you in my home?"

Thompson says he repeatedly told Trawick to drop the knife before shooting

That's not true. pic.twitter.com/Y7YvCaDGU9

— Eric Umansky (@ericuman) May 13, 2023

Here's Officer Thompson saying why he shot Trawick: “I feared for my safety"

Investigators didn’t follow up & raise the fact that Thompson’s more-experienced partner had told him seconds before not to shoot. pic.twitter.com/VaJJU8f0PD

— Eric Umansky (@ericuman) May 13, 2023

We asked a former long-time NYPD detective for his take on investigators never asking about footage showing one officer trying to stop another from shooting.

“That’s huge, they intentionally did that,” @johnbaeza told us.https://t.co/0jTk6TBO0N pic.twitter.com/gjNrtpyCJL

— Eric Umansky (@ericuman) May 13, 2023

In this case, the investigators did not interview Thompson until 7 months after he shot and killed Trawick.

Thompson said during the interview he was given the footage to watch first. pic.twitter.com/TX5KmzuzGs

— Eric Umansky (@ericuman) May 13, 2023

Despite the short interviews, the NYPD didn’t close its investigation into the killing of Kawaski Trawick until nearly two years after the shooting.

Thompson acted “WITHIN DEPARTMENT GUIDELINES,” the report says. “CASE CLOSED.” pic.twitter.com/wmvyqmZisG

— Eric Umansky (@ericuman) May 13, 2023

Both officers testified this week at a disciplinary trial prompted by NYC’s civilian oversight board, the @CCRB_NYC.

The trial, such as it was, was held in an NYPD internal court.

The NYPD doesn't allow recordings in the trial, but I attended.

Something extraordinary happened

— Eric Umansky (@ericuman) May 13, 2023

“It was a mistake for Thompson to use his Taser?” the lawyer asked.

“Correct,” Davis replied.

“And when your partner shot Trawick, that was a mistake?”

“Yes.”

— Eric Umansky (@ericuman) May 13, 2023

Then Davis came back into the room and walked back a key part of what he said.

Questioned by Thompson’s lawyer, Davis now seemed to suggest his partner had done the *right* thing in shooting Trawick.

That prompted a flurry of back-and-forth.

— Eric Umansky (@ericuman) May 13, 2023

The lawyer asked Davis what changed over the bathroom break.

“I had to think about it,” Davis answered. “I had made a mistake by saying that.”

— Eric Umansky (@ericuman) May 13, 2023

You can the full @ProPublica story from me and @michaelhayes on the audio recordings and other internal records *he got*:https://t.co/apKyDik9lE

— Eric Umansky (@ericuman) May 13, 2023

going4roses said:

---

https://abc7ny.com/police-misconduct-settlements-nypd-legal-aid-society-lawsuits/12765662/#

---

The government hates being recorded when it is behaving out of control