The Los Angeles Police Commission recently released its investigative report on the July 2005 Los Angeles Police Department’s brutal killing of 19-month-old Suzie Marie Pe?a in South Los Angeles. It was hailed by the police and the capitalist politicians and denounced by progressive activists and the victims’ family.
The commission’s main finding absolved the police for killing Pe?a and her father, Jose Raul Pe?a. It determined that
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The report also concluded that two Los Angeles police officers involved in the early stages of the incident violated department tactics and policy. But these officers will remain on the police force and receive light, internal punishment.
The commission squarely blamed the murder on Pe?a’s father, a victim of police violence himself. It issued its ruling after meeting behind closed doors with police chief William Bratton for nine hours.
As a result of the commission’s findings, no criminal charges will be filed against the officers involved in the killings. In a 10-page letter to the LAPD, Deputy District Attorney Renee S. Cartaya wrote that the 11 police officers involved in the incident “acted lawfully in self-defense and in defense of others when they used deadly force against Jose Pe?a.”
LAPD chief, William Bratton, applauded the officers’ “outstanding job” in dealing with the Pe?a incident. The cops fired more than 250 bullets at the father and his infant daughter. Bratton said, “I want to commend the men and women of this department who in every instance of this incident behaved courageously, marching toward danger, every one of whose interest and intent was to save the life of the hostages.” (Los Angeles Times, Nov. 29).
Likewise, LA mayor Antonio Villaraigosa praised the commission and supported the police. In a statement, Villaraigosa said that he is ”confident that the commission reached the appropriate decision.”
But Suzie Pe?a’s mother, Lorena Lopez, condemned the commission’s findings. ”I’m very unhappy because they did not find anything on this, they think everything is OK,” Lopez said. ”There was no justice.” Lopez added that she would press ahead with a civil lawsuit against the LAPD.
Racist killing reveals true nature of police
The killing of Susie Marie Pe?a was not an isolated incident of police violence against working-class and oppressed people in LA. It was preceded by a long series of police attacks on the African American and Latino communities. And, in its wake, the LAPD has continued its violence and repression.
On July 10, 2005, LAPD and special SWAT officers fired at least 250 bullets into an auto shop after a three-hour standoff with Jose Raul Pe?a. Two bullets hit and killed Suzie Pe?a. The incident was recorded by nine video cameras, which recorded a total of 27 hours of footage. Supposedly, none of this footage documented the killings of Suzie or Jose Pe?a.
The LAPD deemed the incident a “hostage situation,” but no negotiator was ever called. Instead, five officers stormed the office where the Pe?as were located. At the same time, 11 officers opened fire, leaving one police officer injured and both the father and his daughter dead.
Shortly after the police killing, the LAPD, aided by the capitalist media, launched a racist smear campaign to paint Jose Pe?a as the aggressor and cause of the killings. But the community in South Los Angeles refused the racist vilification of the victims and mobilized in outrage. Protestors gathered nightly at the auto shop where they were both killed for the next few days. At every protest, hundred of belligerent cops surrounded the demonstrators in a synchronized show of force.
The ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), which helped mobilize for the community protests, condemned the police killing of Susie Pe?a in a public statement that was distributed throughout South Los Angeles.
ANSWER said, “The LAPD’s trigger-happy conduct is an outrage. It seems that their official policy is ‘shoot to kill.’” ANSWER described the role of police in oppressed communities: “[Cops] exist to enforce the exploitation of oppressed communities in a deeply unequal system. They inflict violence and terrorize men, women and children. Police brutality is institutionalized and deeply entrenched in this society.”
The results of the police commission’s 15-month investigation give the LAPD the “official” cover it needs to continue to operate as a racist instrument of oppression—an integral part of the capitalist state. Any slight modification in police tactics that may come about will do nothing to change the repressive character of the LAPD.
Suzie Marie Pe?a and her father were two more victims who have been killed across the United States by racist police violence. Fighting against racism and police brutality must be a top priority for revolutionaries and all progressive organizations.
