Holden Links Shooting to Departure of Parks

City Councilman Nate Holden on Thursday said last week’s officer-involved shooting of a 16-year-old was a predictor of life in the Los Angeles Police Department without Chief Bernard Parks--”shoot first, ask questions later.”

During a news conference at the scene of the Mid-City shooting, Holden accused officers of resorting to street justice in the absence of Parks, who was denied a second term as chief last month. Parks announced his retirement two days before the April 24 incident and has been away on vacation since.

“This was excessive force,” Holden said. “And it’s a sign of things to come, now that Parks is gone.”

The head of the Los Angeles Police Commission, which rejected Parks’ request for a second term, said Holden’s remarks were meant to inflame Parks’ supporters. Deputy Chief Michael Bostic was named acting chief while the commission conducts a nationwide search for Parks’ replacement.

“I am appalled at this despicable statement, wholly designed to incite tension in the city of Los Angeles,” Police Commission President Rick J. Caruso said.

Quadry Green remained in critical condition Thursday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Officers had pursued Green and another youth riding in a stolen Toyota, a police report said. Green got out of the car and ran from police and into a backyard on the 2300 block of West 20th Street.

Wilshire Division Officer Scott Blackman, 32, recognizing the neighborhood was an “active violent gang area” and thinking Green reached for a gun from his waistband, fired once and struck Green in the torso, police said. The youth reportedly had a pair of scissors, not a gun. Green has been placed on paid administrative leave while the shooting is under investigation.

The other teenager was arrested after a foot chase.

“Statements by Councilman Holden that suggest a lack of leadership in the police department or a deviation from long-standing LAPD policy and procedure,” a department rebuttal said, “are inflammatory and inaccurate.”

The shooting gave Holden the opportunity to revisit a divide between the police and some residents of South Los Angeles who have felt targeted by police because they are black.