LOS ANGELES– A grand jury indictment was unsealed Friday, charging a former Los Angeles police officer with the May 2015 shooting death of an unarmed homeless man in Venice, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said.
Clifford Proctor has pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
Brendan Glenn, 29, was killed in a scuffle with police outside a bar where he had fought with a bouncer, and his name became a rallying cry against police shootings in Los Angeles. Both Glenn and Proctor are black.
The office of current Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement that the indictment comes after the previous prosecutor, George Gascón, re-examined four use-of-force cases involving law enforcement officers, including Proctor’s case.
Hochman, who ousted Gascón in November’s election, will review the case and decide whether to pursue charges, the statement said.
Proctor’s attorney, Anthony “Tony” Garcia, questioned the timing of the charges and noted that prosecutors declined to charge his client in 2018, according to the Times.
In 2018, Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey declined to file charges, saying there was not enough evidence to prove Proctor acted illegally when he used deadly force.
Glenn was on his stomach and trying to get up when Proctor shot him in the back, police said. He was not trying to take the gun from Proctor or his partner when he was shot, and Proctor’s partner told investigators he did not know why the officer opened fire, police said.
Proctor resigned from the Los Angeles Police Department in 2017. The city paid $4 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Glenn’s relatives.
Proctor, 60, remains in prison. His next court date is November 3.
