LOS ANGELES (AP) - Last year, days of angry protests followed the fatal police shooting of a Guatemalan immigrant. When a civilian oversight panel announced that the officer was justified in using lethal force in the case, calm prevailed amid the small crowds that protested the finding.
Police had braced for the worse Tuesday as the Los Angeles Police Commission announced it accepted an internal LAPD report that concluded the Sept. 5 killing of Manuel Jaminez was a proper use of lethal force.
An independent review by Inspector General Nicole C. Bershon also determined the shooting was in line with department policy, said the commission's president, John W. Mack.
"I'm confident, when I speak on behalf of my fellow commissioners, that our review of the case has been exhaustive, conclusive and has left no stone unturned," Mack said. "This has been a long, particularly difficult and sad incident for all involved."
The Los Angeles district attorney's office also announced it concluded last week that Officer Frank Hernandez acted in self-defense, and that it declined to file criminal charges.
A Los Angeles attorney for Jaminez's Guatemala-based family, which is suing police, said he was disappointed but not surprised. "The script was already written," Luis A. Carrillo said.
Police Chief Charlie Beck and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the investigation was thorough and unbiased.
At a news conference, they called for calm and noted that since the incident, police sought to improve relations with the Guatemalan community in the area where the shooting occurred. Many of the residents speak indigenous dialects and little Spanish or English.
"Be peaceful. Let's not take a step backward," Beck said.
Southern California Immigration Coalition, which organized a rally Tuesday near the site of the fatal shooting, said in a statement that "we cannot allow the LAPD to murder yet another migrant from our community!"
Police said Jaminez, 37, a day laborer, had been drinking and tried to stab a pregnant woman and other passers-by before Hernandez, a bicycle officer, shot him. A police report said Jaminez lunged toward an officer after refusing orders in Spanish and English to drop the knife.
Beck said six witnesses told police they saw Jaminez with the knife, and that other witnesses said they heard the officer order him to drop the weapon.
DNA testing showed blood on the knife belonged to Jaminez, which Beck said proved he had held it.
The chief also underscored that Jaminez rushed toward the officer, holding his knife in a stabbing position, and was 12 feet in front of Hernandez when the officer fired.
Hernandez was in a "defense of life" situation, he said, adding "I would never ask them to shoot a knife out of somebody's hand."
Three days of sometimes violent protests were held by activists and immigrants who didn't believe the police version of events or felt that non-lethal force should have been used.
The killing touched a nerve in the Westlake community, a poor and densely packed enclave of Central Americans immigrants who are often suspicious of police.
The commission's decision doesn't help to bridge that "gap of distrust," said Jorge-Mario Cabrera, spokesman for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. The group planned to ask the U.S. Justice Department to start a civil rights investigation, he said.
The commission decision had been expected, especially since prosecutors declined to file criminal charges against the officer.
Paul M. Weber, head of the police officers' union, applauded the ruling.
"As we have said repeatedly, when individuals threaten police officers with a deadly weapon, they alone are responsible for the consequences of their actions," Weber said.