A Los Angeles County judge ordered the Sheriff’s Department on Friday
to make public the names of deputies involved in three controversial
shootings, concluding that state law generally requires law enforcement
agencies to disclose the identities of officers who use deadly force.
Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant made the ruling in response to a
court filing by The Times that sought the names, ranks, assignments and
years of employment of the deputies in the three deadly confrontations
last year. In at least two of the shootings, suspects were unarmed when
they were fatally shot.
Advocates of open government hailed Friday’s decision as an important
ruling on a contentious issue that has pitted the privacy rights of
police officers against the public’s right to hold government
accountable.
"It is a very significant case," said Terry Francke, general counsel of
Californians Aware, a nonprofit group that seeks open access to
government meetings and records. "When someone shoots — or shoots at
— another person, the name of the shooter has to be available to the
public no matter who he or she is."
— Jack Leonard
Learn about more than 100 fatal officer-involved shootings in Los Angeles County since January 2007, including the three listed below for which The Times sued to get the names of the deputies, on The Times’ interactive Homicide Report.
Woodrow Player III, 20, was shot and killed July 10, 2009 in the 11200 block of Berendo Avenue in unincorporated Athens.
Darrick Collins, 36, was shot and killed Sept. 14, 2009 in the 1200 block of Poindexter Ave. in unincorporated Athens.
Avery Cody Jr., 16, died July 5, 2009 after he was shot at Alondra Boulevard and Poinsettia Avenue in Compton.
Top photo: Lee Baca. Credit: Los Angeles Times