A Los Angeles jury has awarded more than $10 million in damages against the police in connection with an LAPD shooting during a mental health crisis response.
Given that the jury held officers negligent and accountable for an incident previously deemed a “justified shooting” by internal police standards, heightened attention is now focused on pending lawsuits related to the death of Yong Yang.
According to the Los Angeles County Superior Court, a jury verdict on the 23rd ordered the LAPD to pay $11 million to the bereaved family of Wilbur Blanco (then 42), who was shot and killed by LAPD officers. The jury found Officers Stefan Carutasu and Dominique Bilou of the LAPD Southeast Division liable for gross assault and professional negligence, respectively.
Reporting by the Los Angeles Times on the 25th indicates the incident occurred on May 19, 2024, in South LA. Police responded to a report of a man, seemingly under the influence of drugs, threatening an elderly person with a weapon. Blanco, who suffered from mental illness, was holding a folding knife at the scene, prompting officers to order him to “drop the weapon.”/>
Prosecution investigative reports reviewed by this publication indicate that as Blanco approached them, officers immediately fired 11 live rounds despite having non-lethal weapons available.
In subsequent internal investigations, the officers stated they “feared for their lives,” and the supervisory Los Angeles City Police Commission also concluded the shooting was a justified use of force. However, the jury reached a different conclusion.
The central issue at trial was whether efforts were made to de-escalate the situation prior to the shooting. The family’s legal counsel pointed out that Blanco was suffering from mental illness and that officers failed to utilize non-lethal options despite having them on hand. They argued that officers relied solely on verbal commands without a specific response plan and discharged live ammunition in under 20 seconds.
This parallels the core issues in the ongoing lawsuit surrounding the case of Yong Yang. Yang, who also suffered from mental illness, was shot and killed on May 2, 2024, by Olympic Division Officer Andres Lopez inside his Koreatown home in Los Angeles. Because police responded to a report by Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health employee Yoon Soo-tae, officers were already aware that Yang was experiencing a mental health crisis.
When an agitated Yang failed to open the door, police used a key provided by family members to unlock it and attempt a forced entry. Body camera footage shows that just eight seconds after the door opened, Officer Lopez fired three live rounds directly at Yang as he approached holding a kitchen knife. Although another officer stood directly behind him holding a non-lethal weapon, non-lethal equipment was never deployed.
Both the Yang and Blanco incidents share the common thread that internal police investigations and the Police Commission initially validated the justification of the shootings. In the Yang case, three out of five Los Angeles City Police Commissioners previously ruled Officer Lopez’s use of force justified.
Officer Andres Lopez, who killed Yong Yang in the shooting, remains on regular duty at the Olympic Division without disciplinary action. Prior to the Yang incident, he was involved in the shooting of another mentally ill individual in 2021.
Meanwhile, following a continuous string of police shootings involving mentally ill individuals, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass directed an external professional agency to comprehensively review LAPD response policies and training systems.
