The Latest: Lawyer: Not charging LAPD officer was right call

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Latest on prosecutors’ decision against filing charges against a Los Angeles police officer over the shooting of an unarmed homeless man (all times local):

2:30 p.m.

An attorney for a Los Angeles police officer who fatally shot an unarmed homeless man in 2015 says prosecutors made the right decision not to charge his client.

Bill Seki says Thursday that Officer Clifford Proctor has maintained his actions weren’t criminal when he fatally shot Brendon Glenn.

Police said Glenn was on his stomach trying to push himself up when Proctor shot him in the back in May 2015.

Prosecutors said they couldn’t find that Proctor’s actions were unreasonable and that the officer may have “reasonably believed” Glenn was reaching for his partner’s gun during a struggle.

The union representing rank-and-file police officers said prosecutors “followed the evidence in this case and did not succumb to political posturing or pressure.”

Proctor resigned from the Los Angeles Police Department in 2017.

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1:45 p.m.

An attorney for the family of an unarmed homeless man who was fatally shot by a Los Angeles police officer says a prosecutor’s decision not to charge the officer was “spineless.”

Attorney V. James DeSimone says in a statement Thursday that Brendon Glenn’s family is disappointed by the decision not charge ex-LAPD officer Clifford Proctor.

Police said Glenn was on his stomach trying to push himself up when Proctor shot him in the back in May 2015.

DeSimone says Glenn’s death could have been prevented “with common sense policing.”

Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said she did not believe prosecutors could prove their case in court.

DeSimone says the decision “highlights the conflict of interest” when local district attorneys are tasked with deciding whether to charge officers.

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1:15 p.m.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey says she decided not to charge a former police officer in the fatal shooting of an unarmed homeless man because she wouldn’t be able to prove the case in court.

Lacey said Thursday that Officer Clifford Proctor could credibly claim he feared there was a threat to his life or his partner’s life when he fatally shot Brendon Glenn in May 2015.

Police have said Glenn was on his stomach trying to push himself up when Proctor shot him in the back.

Police Chief Charlie Beck had recommended Proctor face criminal charges.

Lacey says Beck’s unprecedented request was not helpful and she hopes future chiefs will not try to influence cases.

She says they raise expectations when the evidence may not be there to support the conclusion.

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11 a.m.

Los Angeles prosecutors will not bring criminal charges against a police officer who shot and killed an unarmed homeless man, despite a recommendation from the city’s police chief that the officer be charged.

In a report released Thursday, prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence to prove Officer Clifford Proctor acted unlawfully when he fatally shot Brendon Glenn in May 2015 in Venice.

Police had said Glenn was on his stomach trying to push himself up when Proctor shot the 29-year-old in the back.

Prosecutors said they couldn’t find that Proctor’s actions were unreasonable and that the officer may have “reasonably believed” Glenn was reaching for his partner’s gun.

A 2016 police investigation concluded that Glenn wasn’t trying to take a gun from Proctor or his partner when he was shot.

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