30-12-23, 08:17
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Re: US COPS BRUTALITY: Police Killed Woman Who Called 911 For HELP For Domestic Viole
Police Killed Niani Finlayson Seconds After Responding to Her 911 Call, Video Shows
Body camera reveals Los Angeles deputy fired at woman who sought help for domestic violence as nine-year-old daughter watched
The Guardian 30 DEC 2023
The Los Angeles sheriff’s department (LASD) released body-camera footage on Friday of an officer fatally shooting Niani Finlayson, 27, who had called 911 for help during a domestic violence incident.
The footage from the 4 December encounter showed that deputy Ty Shelton shot Finlayson four times within roughly three seconds of entering her home.
The killing in Lancaster, a city in north LA county, sparked national outrage last week, with civil rights activists questioning why deputies failed to de-escalate the conflict and instead used fatal force against a woman who had sought their assistance and was a victim of abuse.
LASD released audio from the 911 call, which captured Finlayson shouting: “He won’t get out of my house … He will not leave me alone … I need the police here right now.” She could be heard screaming and repeatedly telling a man to get off her. The family’s lawyer has said the man was her former boyfriend.
Body-camera footage from two deputies showed that when they arrived outside the apartment, they could hear a woman screaming from inside. When Finlayson opened the door, her 9-year-old daughter was standing next to her and appeared to tell the officers that the man had hurt her – seemingly saying that he had “punched” or “pushed” her, although LASD distorted the daughter’s voice and her comments aren’t clearly discernible.
Finlayson appeared to be holding a kitchen knife and seemed to say the ex-boyfriend had attacked them, saying: “I’m about to stab him because” he had hurt her daughter. A female deputy entered the home first, and Finlayson and her ex moved to the opposite end of the room. Shelton followed inside a moment later and fired four shots at Finlayson almost as soon as he entered.
Shelton fired at Finlayson as her daughter stood nearby. The daughter ran into the kitchen after he fired the shots and her mother collapsed on the ground. The ex screamed: “No, no, why did you shoot?” LASD did not release footage of the aftermath.
The video showed that Shelton had entered with a Taser in one hand and a firearm in the other, but it did not appear that he or the two other deputies on scene used any “less lethal” weapons or other tactics to de-escalate the situation before Shelton fatally shot Finlayson.
LASD said in a statement that Finalyson was later taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Her ex, whom police did not name, became “resistive”, LASD said, and was arrested for child abuse and assault on a police officer, but was later released pending further investigation. Finlayson’s family has said that he had injured her and her daughter.
This was not Shelton’s first fatal shooting. On 11 June 2020, the deputy killed Michael Thomas, 61, also while responding to a call for potential domestic violence. That killing was not caught on camera, but Thomas’s girlfriend later said she and Thomas had been having a verbal argument and that Thomas had tried to stop the officers from entering his home.
It was weeks after George Floyd’s murder, and his family said he had been frightened police would kill him. Thomas was unarmed and Shelton shot him in the chest. He was not prosecuted.
Relatives of Finlayson filed a claim against LASD and LA county last week.
Finlayson’s 9-year-old daughter, Xaisha, who was present during the shooting and could be seen on the footage, told reporters:
“She was my best friend. She was always there for me. It’s very unbelievable that she’s gone and not coming back. I miss my mom.”
She also said: “The police lied that my mom was threatening them.”
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