Los Angeles police shot a Black man three times in the back moments after officers stated he was unarmed, and then claimed in the wake of the shooting that a metal car part he was carrying was a “non-functioning firearm”.
Body camera footage released this week shows Jermaine Petit, 39, being approached by LAPD officers responding to a 911 call on 18 July on the corner of Bronson Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard in Leimart Park after a witness said they had seen a man brandishing a “black semi-automatic” weapon.
