Los Angeles police officers shot and killed a part time model and former Middle Tennessee State University player early Saturday January 15th at 3:30am(PST).
Reggie Doucet, Jr. caught a cab home after he was too intoxicated to drive himself. When the cab reached the destination, Doucet, 25 years old, didn’t have money to pay the driver. He took off his clothes as proof that he would go in his apartment and return with money to pay for his ride. When Doucet noticed he didn’t have his keys, he began screaming outside his apartment for someone to open the door. From this point this would later prove to be a fatal decision. The cab driver became startled and called the police. When the police arrived they found Doucet naked and yelling incoherently, according to the L.A. Times.
Officers tried to calm down Doucet but he tried to take off running on various occasions. The officers then claim Doucet allegedly attacked them and reached for the officers’ gun. "The suspect repeatedly punched both officers in the face and head and at one point tried to take one of the officer's guns," the LAPD statement said. An officer on the force for 17 months then shot Doucet twice. Doucet, the father of a four year child and personal trainer later died at a local hospital from his injuries.
Chris Ellison, Doucet's neighbor and former agent, said in a L.A. Times interview, he was stunned by the incident, including Doucet's alleged behavior.
"What bothers me is that if he was naked, they knew for a fact that he didn't have any weapons on him. Were the police really getting whooped that bad that they needed to shoot him — twice? They can't pull out a billy club? They can't Tase him? They have to shoot him?" he said in the interview.
I understand that the police felt threatened, but was lethal force the answer? In the upcoming weeks I’m sure many of these questions and more will be answered as the public demands an explaination.
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