LOS ANGELES — A grand jury indictment was unsealed Friday charging a former Los Angeles police officer with fatally shooting an unarmed homeless man in Venice in May 2015, the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office said.
Clifford Proctor pleaded not guilty on a charge of second-degree murder, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
Brendan Glenn, 29, was killed during battle with police outside a bar where he fought with a bouncer and his name became a rallying cry against police shootings in Los Angeles. Both Glenn and Proctor are black.
Current Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman's office said in a statement that the charges were filed after previous District Attorney George Gascón reviewed four use-of-force cases involving law enforcement officers, including Proctor's.
Hochman, who ousted Gascón in November elections, will review the case and decide whether to initiate criminal proceedings, the statement said.
Proctor's lawyer, 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 press charges, saying there was insufficient evidence that Proctor acted unlawfully when he used deadly force.
According to police, Glenn was lying on his stomach and trying to get up when Proctor shot him in the back. He did not try to take the gun from Proctor or his partner when he was shot, police said, and Proctor's partner told investigators he didn't know why the officer opened fire.
Proctor retired from the Los Angeles Police Department in 2017. The city paid $4 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought by Glenn's relatives.
Proctor, 60, remains in prison. His next court date is Nov. 3.
