LAPD to receive training from cholos on how to bring down unarmed suspects without killing them
By ONANTZIN News
2013-05-27
San Fernando, CA -- Following an incident in which LAPD officers killed a man wielding a tree branch the size of a baseball bat, the Los Angeles Police Department has formed a new partnership with street cholos to receive training on how to bring down unarmed suspects without having to kill them.
The training is the first of it's kind and promises to teach officers a new set of skills and techniques that they have no knowledge of, such as basic punching, dodging, wrestling, and taking a tree branch away from an unarmed man.
"We're pretty good at shooting, but I feel like there's something lacking in our officers," stated Chief of Police Charlie Beck. "I often see cholos beat up a few of our officers before we shot and kill them, so that's where I got the idea that it might be possible to physically restrain someone whose weapon is not a gun."
The cholos, all hired from the East Los Angeles neighborhood, have their work cut out for them. The LAPD department has never trained its members how to fight, choosing instead to rely on different shooting techniques that are meant to injure and neutralize suspects instead of killing them. This approach, however, is usually unsuccessful, as the latest death shows.
On Friday, a man wielding a tree branch is said to have attacked a group of officers, smacking one of the helpless cops several times with a diabolical laughter. Repeated requests by the officer to stop whipping him were ignored by the suspect. This left the officer with absolutely no other choice but to shot the man, who died in the hospital a few hours later.
"Somamabitch wouldn't stop hitting me, and we couldn't take the stick away from him" said the shooting officer, whose name is being held for security concerns.
Training sessions are scheduled to begin next week.