The family of an unarmed 18-year-old shot and killed by an undercover LAPD officer in July intends to file a wrongful death claim against the city of Los Angeles, demanding answers and policy changes.
Ricky Ramirez was one of four men in a car that was pulled over by plainclothes vice officer Sgt. Michael Pounds in South L.A. on July 13. When Ramirez and another man got out of the car and approached Pounds’ unmarked vehicle, Pounds opened fire through his tinted window, fatally striking Ramirez.
According to the LAPD, shortly before the encounter, another LAPD vice officer had radioed that Ramirez and the other men in the car were wearing ski masks and were “in a possible dispute” with another driver. But neither ski masks or weapons were found at the scene.
Attorney Christopher Dolan said the LAPD’s version of the facts is highly questionable.
“No charges were filed against the other boys who got out of that car,” he said. “Why? Because nobody committed a crime before the police shot Ricky.”
Dolan accused Pounds of breaking LAPD protocol during the incident, saying the sergeant should have called for a marked vehicle so that Ramirez and the others would have known they were being stopped by police and “it wasn’t somebody just trying to carjack them.”
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Dolan said that in addition to seeking damages, the family also wants policy changes, such as installing video cameras in undercover cars and additional training for vice enforcement officers.
The LAPD is conducting an investigation into the shooting, which is also being reviewed by the attorney general’s office.
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