Body-cam Footage Released from Aug. 20 Officer Involved Shooting in San Pedro

Update: Click the following link to see the video for yourself. https://youtu.be/wvDVvPXvHWg

The LAPD media relations department released the video on Aug. 20 officer-involved shooting in front of Stanley’s Liquor Store on 17th and Pacific Avenue. The 18-minute video included footage from the liquor store and both officers.

The patrol officers rolled up on the parked vehicle in a handicapped parking spot in front of Stanley’s liquor. When the officers asked the driver for his license, he replied he didn’t have it and that the vehicle belonged to the young woman in the front passenger seat who then provided her driver’s license and documentation for the vehicle. The remaining occupants provided their identification. The driver of the vehicle was ordered out of the vehicle first. He was searched and moved to the passenger side of the vehicle alongside the female passenger who was seated behind the driver’s seat. The pair were made to stand facing the liquor store. 

The second male passenger, Russell Douthit, who was seated in the right passenger seat was ordered out and was searched with his hands behind his head. The patrol officer searching Douthit removed a handgun from Douthit’s waistband. The officer handed the gun to his partner who was standing at a safe distance away, enabling him to keep his eye on Douthit, the two occupants facing the liquor store and the female in the front passenger seat. 

Up until the discovery of the gun taken from Douthit, the interactions between the police officers and the car occupants were relaxed and cooperative. After the gun was removed from Douthit, the officers’ interactions with the car’s occupants became tense. The officer standing at a distance ordered the two passengers already facing the liquor store to get on their knees and hands behind their heads. He then asked for backup. The officer closest to Douthit ordered the 20-year-old to stand on his knees with his legs crossed and his hands behind his back. 

The two car occupants who were now on their knees facing the liquor store (following instructions from the officers standing at a distance) began asking what happened. The car’s occupants struggled to understand to whom instructions were being given as the officers shouted at them. 

After asking Douthit his first name, they asked Douthit (by name since the two other occupants were also on their knees at this point) to shuffle to the right to put distance between the car and Douthit. The 220 lbs Douthit complained of discomfort as he sat on his knees with his legs crossed. The body cam footage of the officer standing at a distance seem to show Douthit attempting to comply with the officers’ orders only to fall over to the left into the still open back passenger door out of which he exited. The LAPD, however, said Douthit lunged into the car. Regardless, the officer standing at a distance fired at Douthit wounding Douthit’s hand. Douthit reacted by jumping to his feet and running a few feet away before stopping and complying with the officers’ instructions not to run and to get down on his stomach.   

The video then shows the camera footage of officers who arrived at the scene after the shooting. Douthit was cited for illegally carrying a concealed firearm. The LAPD said a Glock-17 handgun and a magazine clip were taken from Douthit and booked into evidence while the District Attorney’s office decides whether to take up the case.