A scandal has broken out in the Los Angeles Police Department after evidence from a newly released body camera footage, show two police officers planting drugs on the wallet of a hit-and-run suspect from an arrest back in April. The LAPD officers have been accused of selectively filming only portions of the arrest in order to implicate the subject on drug possession charges.
Defense attorney Sam Levine, alleges that the LAPD officers staged his client’s arrest to make it seem like the officers had recovered a bag of drugs from him. Levine told the judge during a pre-trial hearing that the officers accidentally filmed themselves planting cocaine on his client. The officers were apparently unaware that Axon body cameras actually save 30 seconds of footage before the record button is pressed.
The officer can be heard bragging about the “bag of narco” and gesturing to other officers and allegedly tucking it inside the man's wallet https://t.co/IM2TpYEYsY
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) November 11, 2017
CBS Los Angeles obtained the damning footage where officer Gaxiola can be seen picking up a bag containing white powder and showing it to officer Lee, before placing it in the suspect’s wallet. After Gaxiola placed the bag inside the wallet he immediately pressed the record button on his body camera, unaware that it would capture the previous 30 seconds as well.
When Gaxiola pressed the record button he “finds” a suspicious bag in the man’s wallet. Moments later, he gets his partner’s attention and alerted him that drugs had been “recovered” from the suspect’s wallet. Officer Lee can be seen on the video looking directly at Gaxiola while he’s holding the bag of cocaine and putting it on the man’s wallet, 10 seconds before Gaxiola pressed the camera’s record button, implicating Lee on the illegal drug planting as well.
https://twitter.com/jplang43/status/930502697496739840
Officer Lee in an attempt to defend himself and Gaxiola, stated that the bag had fallen on the ground while the suspect was being searched, but the suspect’s defense attorney insists that it was Gaxiola who planted the ‘evidence’.
Levine showed the judge the video again at the hearing and argued that the tiny white square appeared on Gaxiola’s hands and is proof enough that the LAPD officer planted the bag himself and then staged its recovery.
meanwhile….https://t.co/Et2Pg3qQm5
— John (@J0hn8ev) November 14, 2017
At the moment neither police officer is facing disciplinary measures for the footage. CBS LA noted that the case has overlaps with another ongoing body cam scandal in Baltimore. Dozens of cases involving body cams have been thrown out, however, nearly 100 are still under review after police officers admitted to “re-creating” the finding of evidence on suspects.
https://twitter.com/WhereistheBuzz/status/929632986508673024
Article inspired by Gizmodo // LA Cops Allegedly Film Themselves Planting Cocaine on Suspect With Their Own Body Cams