The family attorney for Dijon Kizzee, the African-American who was fatally shot by agents from Los Angeles County, California, this week, said that when the man was shot he was running from the officers.
Dijon Kizzee’s family offers a very different version than the police
“Dijon Kizzee did not deserve to be executed in this way in cold blood as he fled”
Benjamin Crump raised this Wednesday during a virtual press conference.
On the lawyer’s argument, the county sheriff’s office told CNN that the “investigation is ongoing and no additional information is available at this time.”
What Dijon Kizzee’s autopsy says
Forensic authorities confirmed on Thursday that Kizzee, 29, died as a result of a homicide. Although he was shot multiple times by the agents, it has not yet been specified how many bullets hit the African-American.
The final case report could take several weeks.
Kizzee’s case is reported in a country already convulsed by the shootings of other African-Americans such as George Floyd, Jacob Blake, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, who have generated protests in several states.
In Los Angeles, anti-police violence activists have also demonstrated to seek justice on behalf of Kizzee and his family.
“This is reality that no one wants to see anymore”
Crump argued, accompanied by the deceased’s aunt, Fletcher Fair. “Enough was enough when we had to see George Floyd narrating the documentary of his own murder while he was tortured to death”, he said.
The Police Department gives its version of the fact
The police department reported that at about 3:15 p.m. on Monday, two officers trying to stop Kizzee while running his bike through block 1200 of 109th Place, on Budlong Avenue in South Los Angeles.
Officers were seeking to arrest the man for an alleged violation of the vehicle code.
But when they approached him, Kizzee fled. When he was hit, the suspect allegedly punched one of the cops in the face. Then he dropped the bag of clothes he was carrying.
At the time, the uniforms allegedly saw that among the items was a gun, so he was shot several times.
In an exchange with the media on Wednesday, County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said officers have no choice when responding to incidents of this kind that escalate if it’s not the use of lethal force.
