Los Angeles officer who saw replica gun shoots teen in back

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Los Angeles officer who saw replica gun shoots teen in back
| February 12, 2015 | Updated: February 12, 2015 8:17pm

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles police officer shot and wounded a 15-year-old boy in the back after spotting him in an alley standing near someone holding what appeared to be a gun, authorities said Thursday.

"What the officer thought was a weapon turned out to be a replica handgun," Sgt. Frank Preciado said.

The boy, Jamar Nicholson, was taken to a hospital and released to his mother the same day.

An LAPD captain has apologized to his mother, but Nicholson said he wanted to hear the same directly from the officer.

"I don't want to see him again," he told the Los Angeles Times, "but I do want that 'sorry.'"


Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Los-Angeles-officer-who-saw-replica-gun-shoots-6077339.php

[msongs]

1. to protect and serve nt

[SoapBox]

2. Cops these days are trigger happy.

And the more innocent American's that they have wounded or killed...one would think that they would learn their lesson...but it just seems to be getting worse.

[AzDar]

3. Actually, they seem unreasonably scared out of their minds. Policing isn't a job for cowards...

[Ash_F]

16. They aren't truly scared. Just totally bigoted and uncaring. /nt

[valerief]

4. Lemme guess. Kid was black. DING DING DING!

[Art_from_Ark]

6. I'm pretty sure that if I had carried this CO2 pistol with me around town as a kid,

I would have freaked people out, and someone would probably have called the cops.

[ManiacJoe]

9. Did your toys look like real guns?

[happyslug]

11. mine did

My sister even took it to school. They were making cowboy movies in German. My gun was more realistic then the pistols the school had in their props for stage in the school. Today she be Suspended. Then she received extra credits. Times have changed. And this was an integrated inner city high school, not something out in suburbia.

[Bradical79]

12. Mine too.

They were pretty real looking, and we had military camo from the army surplus store. Used to hide in the bushes with our real looking guns playing army. Kind of lucky to have never had an incident with police in hindsight.

[hack89]

10. These replica guns are not toys - they look exactly like the real thing.

you have to hold it to see that it is not real.

[Chemisse]

7. Kids should NOT be carrying around replica guns.

If aimed at a cop, anyone could expect to get shot.

That said, WAS it aimed at the cop? Did the officer ask the young man to drop the gun? It seems like that step is so often skipped in the haste to shoot. Also, why did Jamar get shot when it was his friend holding the replica gun? Bad aim?

Thank goodness the kid is okay.

[Bradical79]

13. shot in the back

Officer claims he saw the kid with the gun pointing it at the other kid. The officer fired and hit the one the gun was being pointed at instead. How much command was given to drop the weapon is in dispute. Officer says he told the kid to drop the gun and fired when he refused to comply. The kid said he heard "freeze!" followed immediately by the gunshot.

[Chemisse]

15. That answers a lot of questions.

A scared cop who is too quick to pull the trigger - and horribly bad aim!

[ManiacJoe]

8. Someone needs more practice time at the range.

There is no excuse for shooting the wrong kid.

[TeamPooka]

14. so the wrong headline for this story. The cop shot the wrong kid that wasn't even holding the gun