The police in Los Angeles fatally shot a physical assault suspect who attacked them earlier in February with what was initially believed to be a knife but turned out to be a plastic fork, a police video released Tuesday shows.
Jason Lee Maccani, 36, was reported in a 911 call to be armed with a large stick and attacking an employee in a studio, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Captain Kelly Muñiz said, the video shows. The caller described Maccani as “a fucking homeless dude” who was “on some shit,” “very dangerous,” and “kind of like tweaking out,” according to an audio recording of the call in the video. Maccani appeared to be attacking someone as the call progressed, the caller’s exclamations in the recording suggested. Officers gained access to the location and ordered Maccani’s surrender, the video shows.
Maccani could be seen raising his hands and walking backward in surrender, but soon he turned around and charged at the officers with what one of them believed was a screwdriver. An officer reportedly shot one round from a 40-mm less-lethal launcher at Maccani while another fired two bean bag shotgun rounds but Maccani kept charging at the officers, clutching what another officer reportedly thought was a knife. As Maccani grabbed the bean bag shotgun while a female officer was holding it, an officer shot Maccani in the arm, the video shows. (RELATED: ‘I Wish You Would George Floyd Me, Bitch’: Wild Video Shows Officer Shoot Woman Charging At Man With Knife, Police Say)
The officers then placed Maccani under arrest and began rendering aid while also requesting the help of paramedics, according to the video.
“Hey, start chest compressions, his pulse is weak,” an officer said in the video.
“Hey, open an airway,” another said, as a third began to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Maccani.
Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics transported Maccani to a hospital for treatment but Maccani was pronounced dead there, Captain Muñiz said in the video.
Investigators found that the object Maccani was holding as he attacked the officers was a plastic fork, which they then recovered from the scene and booked as evidence, Captain Muñiz added, with a picture of the fork displayed in the video.
California’s attorney general’s office reportedly took over the investigation, while the LAPD‘s investigation into the officer-involved shooting would continue.