DOJ not pressing charges against officer who fatally shot man in Culver City in 2022
The California Department of Justice announced that they will not be filing charges against an officer who fatally shot a man during what his family said was a mental health crisis.
Just before 12:20 a.m. on Dec. 18, 2022, Culver City Police Department officers responded to a domestic disturbance complaint after a 911 caller reported a man carrying a gun was banging on their door.
Upon arriving, the officers located the man – identified as Guillermo de Jesus Medina – and ordered him to drop his weapon. Medina refused, entered his car and led police on a pursuit from Culver City to Hollywood and Santa Monica before eventually crashing his car into a center median back in Culver City just over an hour after the initial 911 call.
After the crash, Medina fled on foot, and that’s at least one officer opened fire, authorities said. Medina was pronounced dead at the scene.
Video later released by the department shows Medina, who was 39 at the time of his death, running from officers and falling to the ground after being shot in the back.
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The father of three’s family told KTLA in the weeks after the shooting that their patriarch was unarmed and experiencing a mental health crisis, and they believed that officers failed to provide timely medical care that could have prevented his death. They also filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the department alleging excessive force.
Medina’s wife, Adriana, was the one to call police; she claimed that she “clearly expressed” that her husband was in crisis.
“It was made clear to the dispatcher, and it was made clear to the officer who was in my house,” she said in Jan. 2023. “I said [he was experiencing a crisis] for an hour.”
According to the family, no weapon was displayed at the time, nor was one found at the scene. Police, however, said they found a replica firearm in Medina’s car.
In a statement released on Tuesday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said that Medina “turned towards officers with a black object in his hand” and was fatally shot; the object was later determined to be a cell phone.
“DOJ conducted a thorough investigation into this incident and concluded that the evidence does not show, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the officer involved acted without the intent to defend himself and others from what he reasonably believed to be imminent death or serious bodily injury,” justice department officials said.
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As part of their report, the DOJ recommended that the Culver City Police Department provide refresher courses regarding communications and notifications among allied agencies involved in an inter-jurisdictional pursuit.
The full justice department report can be read here.
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