The family of 19-year-old Alberto Arzola, who was fatally shot by Anaheim Police Department officers, is preparing to file a lawsuit against the city. The incident occurred on December 6 in the 800 block of South Philadelphia Street during a gang suppression patrol. According to the police, Arzola allegedly struggled with the police before being shot, and officers claimed they found an “assault-style firearm” near him posthumously.
However, civil rights attorney V. James DeSimone, representing the family, declared police had responded to “a report of graffiti,” which they maintain Arzola did not commit, as KTLA reports. DeSimone contests the official account, stating at a news conference that the death resulted from “a tragic and unnecessary escalation of force,” with officers allegedly also causing injury to two other teens present at the scene, one of whom was struck in the head with a beanbag round.
Furthermore, according to CBS Los Angeles, bodycam footage reveals officers grabbing Arzola off the porch. Despite the footage’s lack of initial audio due to “buffering,” Desimone remarked, “We can’t hear anything that the police officer commands and we can’t hear the cries of Alberto as he was saying ‘don’t shoot me, don’t shoot me’ as an officer grabbed his hoodie and had a gun in his other hand.”…