KTLA News: "John Van de Kamp will not charge police officers in fatal shooting of Eula Love" (1979)

this was a justifiable homicide committed by the officers in their own self-defense uh this is not to say that there are not significant tactical and strategic issues that are involved uh clearly there are but our function in looking at this case is to make sure that we have every bit of evidence that's available and I think we've done a pretty good job in that [Music] respect district attorney Vandy Camp said a total of 12 shots were fired the shots were fired in Rapid success session the rapidity of the firing precludes there being any time within which the officers may have realized that she no longer had the knife or no longer posed a threat the overwhelming weight of the evidence in this case indicates that she was throwing a knife a 10in 11in boning knife at them that uh was life-threatening and if you read the calic instructions uh which I believe are attached to the material that you have uh you'll see what the instructions say and they have right to to use reasonable Force when they're faced with uh uh life endangering kinds of activity and uh uh here uh you have a threat of death and they have a right to use self-defense in behalf of themselves or on the behalf of another there were 10 eyewitnesses to the shooting of the 39-year-old woman outside her home on South Orchard Avenue in South Los Angeles the house is run down and deserted today Tall Grass has overrun the yard the screen is off the gas meter outside of the house this is where Mrs Ula love stood the day the shooting took place there was an officer here an officer there she held a knife in her hand there was a scuffled the knife was knocked out of her hand she reached for it and as she threw it the officers opened fire shooting Mrs blue and Mr Thomas observed the incident from their residence which is one house he was interviewed by investigator Pharm he said the white officer officer o Callahan district attorney Vandy Camp said a total of 12 shots were fired the shots were fired in Rapid succession the rapidity of the firing precludes there being any time within which the offic may have realized that she is no longer pick up again district attorney Vandy Cam said a total of 12 shots were fired the shots were fired in Rapid succession the rapidity of the firing precludes there being any time within which the officers may have realized that she is no longer pick up again great investigation into the fatal shooting of Ula Love by two Los Angeles police officers it has been determined that the evidence does not warrant the filing of criminal charges today uh I have ordered released the 37-page report with an appendix added with various supporting documents which details the work that our special investigative division has put into this case and which summarizes uh many of the interviews that were conducted uh over 52 of them uh uh were involved in this case and a number of other people were at least sarily questioned to find out whether or not they knew anything about it uh in the summary on pages three and and four of the report that's been handed to you the report concludes that there is no legal or evidentiary basis for murder charges because the evidence shows the killing was in self-defense nor will involuntary manslaughter charges lie according to the report because the officer's conduct falls short of being the aggravated Reckless and grossly negligent act condemned by Statute and by case law as I indicated to you over 52 persons have been interviewed uh in the course of the investigation starting on page 12 the report outlines the testimony of 10 eyewitnesses to the shooting of Mrs love on January 3rd 1979 outside her home one of those Witnesses is relatively new to you because until recently uh he was not known uh he first came to our attention uh some while ago uh he' refused to tell his story to the Los Angeles Police Department and it first uh did not want to talk to us but we decided to have him subpoenaed before the grand jury he testified there and later was interviewed by our office that's Mr Ronald Lewis and I'll talk about him in just a minute I'd like to go over with you right now what I think is the most critical testimony of the case uh that is those who saw the shooting and if you go to your report as I am going to do right now to Pages 16 and 19 I would just like to go through those Witnesses uh with you to give you in a sense a feel for the most critical events in this case page 16 starts off on the bottom with the so-called officers report which I will not elaborate on at this time we'll get back to that in a few minutes gas company people the step on the knife at Mrs love now might be well to just take a look look behind Terry at the in a sense at this Mrs Hazel blue and I'm not exactly sure where she would be located on this uh map that I believe that she would probably be shoulder same height as her head Mrs blue further stated that when Mrs love started to move her right arm back on uh that was the knife that was recovered she stood up holding the knife in her right hand with the elbow bent and the knife pointing towards those the news media people who are out there who had taken a look at the area uh we've talked to all the witnesses in the neighborhood we have used the grand jury device here to get people in who we thought had percipient testimony and I think the the overwhelming weight of the evidence exonerates the officers uh why didn't you use the grand jury price in the first place what what are you talking about well I think you know what the officers did when they got there and their approach is uh certainly raised an issue in this case and I think that's an issue for the city council Police Department the police commission Mr Danny Mr ex why do you think the officers were justified in pursuing this very hostile irrational person why was it necessary for them to try to disarm her at that moment when no one else the report states that the children were not feared to be in danger in the house so why was it necessary at that time that they act that's something that you can only speculate on because the officers have not spoken directly to us they have sent a letter in to us through their attorney which indicated they were concerned about the kids but we we do know that the officers had information relating to the prior assault of The Gas Company employee on the premises at I think 11:00 or 11:15 that day uh the woman was exhibiting a weapon a dangerous weapon uh in a threatening manner that probably would fall within the definition of section 417 of the penal code uh in all likelihood would have uh uh the right because they had they were there they saw it to make an arrest now that that's all speculation uh but I think it's pretty clear they had a right to be there and you just stated some of the reasons you have so far the most question know our viewers say that here is a woman with a knife and she's shot by two officers how what what do you want to get across well all I'm getting across today is that we reviewed the evidence and the evidence establishes the on the way to the evidence would establish that she was throwing the knife at one of the officers and they were acting out of self-defense and they have a right to act out of self-defense you had a serious weapon that could have caused serious grave injury to one of the officers and that they acted very quickly in response to that what kind of holes do you think you could plug in your investigation if you were able to talk there are not that many discrepancies as to whether the officers felt they were in danger as I said and if you you read carefully M have happened that the the knife that was thrown could have killed one of them now are you are you saying are you telling me you know your question was a loaded question with reaching you know decisions that you have made privately yourself or publicly I guess uh are you saying that uh they do not have the right to use deadly force when they're confronted by the same you have the resp responsibility of making that decision now given the discrepancies and major differences in what those Witnesses said according to your report do you feel that a jury hearing cross although the district attorney concluded there was no evidence warranting the fing of criminal charges he did say there were some tactical and strategic questions about the way the officers handled the case and they could only be answered by the police department Stan Chambers from South Los Angeles for news of 10 are you rolling This Is Where Mrs Ula love stood on January 3rd she had a knife in her hand there was an officer here another officer there they repeatedly told her to get rid of the knife there was a scuffle