NEW YORK
A two-year-old video recording that captured the fatal shooting of an unarmed man by California police was finally released Wednesday following a judge's order, according to media reports.
Shot by cameras mounted in two police cars, the video shows the killing of Ricardo Diaz-Zeferino, who with two other friends, was stopped in the city of Gardena by police investigating a bicycle theft June 2, 2013.
Officers are heard shouting at the men to stand still with their hands in the air. While the two other men obey, Diaz-Zeferino lowers his hands three times. When he removes his baseball cap, police fire eight times, killing him at the scene.
The three men were in the Los Angeles suburb trying to find the bicycle that was stolen from the victim’s brother, local media reported.
According to The Los Angeles Times, the city fought to prevent the release of the video, prompting several media outlets to file a lawsuit demanding its release, asserting there is intense public scrutiny of police shootings across the country.
A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the public has a right to know what led the city to pay $4.7 million to settle a lawsuit with Diaz-Zeferino’s family.
"The fact that they spent the city's money, presumably derived from taxes, only strengthens the public's interest in seeing the videos," Judge Stephen Wilson wrote in his 13-page decision, cited by the Los Angeles Times.
The ruling comes as police forces nationwide increasingly adopt the use of video cameras worn by officers and mounted in patrol cars to capture police confrontations with civilians.
But few agencies have made their videos public, according to the Times.
