hello i'm captain stacey spell commanding officer of media relations division of the los angeles police department this critical incident community briefing is intended to provide you with information about a law enforcement related injury also known as a leary that occurred in southeast division in the city of los angeles on october 12 2021 at around 2 58 pm o'leary is a use of force incident where an individual requires hospitalization you're about to see relevant video footage and learn about other evidence and police procedures related to the case so you can have a better understanding of what occurred based on what we know right now the lapd conducts very thorough use of force investigations which typically require investigators to interview multiple witnesses view numerous hours of video footage and analyze a significant amount of forensic evidence we're still at the very early stages of this investigation which can often take up to a year to complete and our understanding of the incident may change as this additional evidence is collected analyzed and reviewed we also do not draw any conclusions about whether the officers acted consistent with our policies in the law until all the facts are known and the investigation is complete a word of caution the images and information you're about to see may be disturbing when a police officer uses force to arrest a suspect or defend against an attack it can be graphic and difficult to watch in addition there may be strong language used by those shown in the video viewer discretion is advised especially for young children and sensitive viewers southeast patrol officers responded to a radio call of a naked man armed with a sword in the area of west 145th street and menlo avenue when officers arrived to the area of the call they met with a community member who directed them to the location of the subject here's the call and corresponding radio broadcast for this incident hello 694 chp hey sir hey for you guys uh west 145th street with a cross of south menlo avenue okay i just had a caller who was getting a picture from his relatives who are live in that area for a male black adult in shorts walking around with the sword and yelling at nothing what the sword yeah male is believed to be walking eastbound on 145th pass menlo towards what looks to be i guess that would be orchard okay of an officer stand out have a great day sir thank you great southeast unit 415 now with the 945th and ben lowe second hand information from chp left in east 145th suspect male black no shirt shorts walking with a sword co2 instead 2868 or the 1871. the officers attempted to establish communications with the subject for several minutes in an effort to de-escalate the situation and gain voluntary compliance they repeatedly asked the subject to drop the sword however the subject refused to comply with the officers as officers continued to verbalize with the subject he advanced toward the officer's police vehicle while still holding the sword and struck the hood of the police vehicle both officers exited their vehicle deployed their tasers and struck the subject causing him to drop the sword the subject was taken into custody without further incident a taser is an electronic control device that is carried by nearly all patrol officers it fires two metal probes that are designed to cause neuromuscular incapacitation body worn video cameras are used by most officers assigned to field duties they are worn at chest level and capture a general perspective within line of sight from that angle the angle of the camera prohibits viewers from seeing everything the officers saw and experienced upon activation both audio and video will turn on however body worn video cameras have a buffer of video without audio from the previous two minutes prior to activation this feature is designed to capture incidents that occur suddenly where an officer doesn't immediately activate the camera here's body worn video from the officers involved in this incident drop the sword put the sword on the ground listen elmer you're not you're not in trouble not in danger homer elmer you're not you're not in danger we're here to help you okay not the sword elmer put the sword down we're here to help you we're not going to hurt you you going you'll see through rogers the selfie supervisor responding right now put the sword on the ground there you go put it on the ground sir come over here talk to me you're not in trouble i'm i'm like you are the king you are king come over here talk to me elmer you are a king all right come over here let's talk you're not in trouble step over here come over here come here to us any are you gonna come in on southeast frequency foreign we're not going to hurt you yeah put your hands up king king elmer come over here talk to us hey drop the sword man back up nothing's gonna shine elmer drop the sword [Applause] elmer drop it let me switch hey drop it drop it sir drop it good job guys oh hey drop it drop a shirt drop it [Music] okay good job guys can you check this one out yeah los angeles fire department paramedics transported the subject to a local hospital where he was treated and admitted from multiple non-life-threatening taser puncture wounds to his groin area as well as a head laceration that he sustained during the subsequent fall resulting from the taser deployment force investigation division was notified and assumed investigative responsibility investigators recovered the subject sword at the scene and booked it as evidence the subject was placed on a 72-hour mental evaluation hold and released from the hospital following the evaluation period the subject was not arrested in the next several months the lapd will continue to investigate and analyze this incident we will continue interviewing any new witnesses that may come forward and complete any forensic tests after the investigation is complete our critical incident review division will forward their findings to the chief of police who will make his recommendation to the civilian board of police commissioners the board will evaluate the evidence to determine whether the officer's tactics and use of force in this instance met the high standards expected of all lapd officers if you would like more information on how the lapd investigates all serious uses of force visit lapdonline.org where you can find the lapd's use of force policy and procedures thank you for taking the time to view this critical incident community briefing you