| Looks like this one won't be going to trial.
Too bad more cases don't end like this:
I got their answer....... he resisted arrest, and he won't do that again!
LAPD Officer Guns Down Man in El Sereno His Family is Demanding Answers
By Melissa MacBride
EL SERENO, Aug. 10, 2007 (KABC-TV) - An LAPD officer gun down a man in El Sereno Thursday night, after police say he attacked the officer's partner.
Police say that Johnny Rico choked an officer until it he was nearly unconscious.
Gracie Sanchez is due to deliver her baby any day. She says her fiance 30-year-old Johnny Rico, whose name is tattooed on her forehead was excited to be a dad.
The couple had an argument Thursday evening. He had been drinking, she called police thinking they would arrest Rico for a few hours, giving him time to calm down.
"I didn't expect all this to happen. I feel that they should not have taken his life. He knew the baby was due any day," says Sanchez.
Police say that Rico got into a physical fight with a male officer on scene and started choking the officer, that's when they say that a female officer intervened and fired a shot.
"It was a violent struggle in which one of the officers was nearly incapacitated. And at that point the officer-involved shooting took place," says Lt. Rey Avalos, LAPD.
Catherine Escovedo who rents a room from Rico and Sanchez heard the shots and looked to see what happened.
"She was on his back while the officers head was underneath Johnny's arm which looked like Johnny was struggling with the officer. That is when I thought that the officer was down because he didn't move," says Escovedo, Couple's Roommate.
She says the male officer eventually stood up while his partner called for backup. That is when she realized that Rico had been shot in the head.
"What we don't understand is that the officers are trained for altercations like this. All of them are trained and we do not know why they would use force like they did on him," says Claudia Blas, Sister-in-Law.
Police will be conducting a thorough Use of Force Investigation. The officers involved are veterans on the department at the Hollenbeck station.
Family members say that they will be holding a car wash this weekend in order to raise money for his funeral.
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