The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division launched physique digital camera footage Friday displaying the moments main as much as a deputy fatally capturing a 27-year-old Black girl in Lancaster.
Niani Finlayson, who authorities stated was armed with a kitchen knife, was shot in entrance of her 9-year-old daughter on Dec. 4. She had referred to as the police for assist throughout a home dispute with a person authorities described as her boyfriend.
The footage launched Friday exhibits that the deputy who shot her was first handed a Taser, however he dropped it and fired a handgun as an alternative.
Investigators are persevering with to evaluation the case, which is predicted to be despatched to the district legal professional’s workplace to find out if any expenses can be filed.
“Any time a life is misplaced, whatever the circumstances, is a troublesome time for everybody concerned,” L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna stated in an announcement. “The division launched the body-worn digital camera footage forward of the authorized timeframe to reveal our dedication to transparency and the visible illustration of the info on this case. As the excellent evaluation course of continues, the division will acquire further perception into the incident with the aim of enhancing public security.”
Shortly after 6 p.m. on Dec. 4, Finlayson referred to as 911 to report that her boyfriend wouldn’t depart her Lancaster condo, authorities stated. Throughout a frantic name with a police dispatcher, audio of which was launched together with the physique digital camera footage, Finlayson stated the person wouldn’t depart her home or “get his fingers off of me.”
Three deputies heard screaming as they approached the condo within the 2100 block of East Avenue J-8. Physique digital camera video exhibits one of many deputies making an attempt to kick within the entrance door.
The door opens and Finlayson seems — holding what authorities say was an 8-inch kitchen knife.
“I’m going to stab him,” she will be heard telling the deputies earlier than transferring out of sight towards the lounge.
The physique digital camera video exhibits a deputy, recognized by the division as Ty Shelton, coming into the condo carefully behind one other deputy. On his manner in, Shelton asks the opposite deputy to provide him a Taser.
After deputies moved into the condo, Finlayson will be seen standing subsequent to a person, with one hand on him and the opposite showing to carry a knife. Shelton drops the Taser , raises his handgun and fires 4 photographs at Finlayson.
The person then yells, “Why did you shoot?”
Finlayson was taken to a hospital the place she later died. The person was arrested on suspicion of kid abuse and assault on a peace officer however was later launched, based on the sheriff’s division.
Shelton didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Finlayson’s household filed a declare final week signaling they plan to sue the county and the division for $30 million.
“She was not participating in any kind of bodily threatening conduct in any respect,” Bradley Gage, the household’s legal professional, stated at a information convention Dec. 21. “Actually, she was the sufferer.”
Shelton was concerned in not less than one different deadly capturing in Lancaster, based on county information. In 2020, Shelton killed 62-year-old Michael Thomas as he and one other deputy tried to detain him throughout a home violence name.
The deputies stated Thomas tried to seize one in all their weapons. His fiancee disputed that, telling a neighborhood TV station that Thomas had refused to let the deputies enter the home and was turning away from them when he was shot.
Prosecutors declined to file expenses in opposition to Shelton in that case, county information present, although they acknowledged “there might have been different cheap choices accessible” to him as an alternative of killing Thomas.
The union representing L.A. County sheriff’s deputies urged the general public to permit for a radical investigation earlier than coming to any last conclusions.
“This was clearly a tragic final result, an final result attributable to a violent and extremely risky scenario in that condo that evening,” Richard Pippin, president of the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs stated in an emailed assertion Friday.
“Our deputy discovered himself confronted with a girl who threatened to stab somebody and was then poised, knife in hand, to hold out that risk. This video exemplifies the profound challenges and no-win conditions our deputies often face. The true motives of teams or people who jumped out with outrageous assertions earlier than even seeing the video needs to be obvious to everybody.”
