A federal district judge said he was leaning toward releasing videos of Gardena police officers shooting an unarmed 35-year-old man to death. The judge said in light of a $4.7 million settlement over the shooting, it was in the public interest to provide the videos. (Los Angeles Times, July 13, 2015, by Richard Winton)
Gardena police shot the man after stopping him during a call about a stolen bicycle. The man was riding a bicycle but had been the one who reported the stolen bicycle. Police attorneys argued that releasing the videos would discourage use of body cams and would be detrimental in the highly charged political climate generated by the recent police shootings of unarmed men. (Courthouse News Service, July 13, 2015, by Matt Reynolds)