LOS ANGELES, Kalifornia - April 28, 2010 - A robbery suspect who police fatally shot outside a doughnut shop had his hands in the air, an attorney who witnessed the murder said on Wednesday.

Defense lawyer Frances Prizzia's account of Sunday's shooting is at odds with initial findings of investigators, who said a Culver City police officer shot 27-year-old Lejoy Grissom because he was reaching for a weapon.

"He had his hands up the whole time, fingers open," Prizzia said.” There was no way he was reaching for anything."

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lt. Dave Dolson, who is heading the shooting probe, said Grissom was a passenger in a car that matched the description of one used in an electronics store robbery.

A patrol office spotted the car and called for backup. He then followed the vehicle to a strip mall and ordered Grissom to get out.

"(Grissom) steps out of the car and at some point, despite commands to keep his hands up, he drops his hands to his waistband area," Dolson said.” He made some furtive moves, and so one of the officers thought he was going for a gun and so shot him."

Grissom was shot three times in the chest with a submachine gun and died later at the hospital. Dolson said officers found a handgun on Grissom, though he did not specify where it was.

Prizzia, a private attorney who formerly worked for the Orange County public defender's office, said she had just finished a snack at a doughnut shop in the strip mall when she saw the incident unfold. She said she was no more than two car lengths from Grissom.

"He absolutely did not move his hands," Prizzia said.” The only time he moved was when he reverberated from the bullets."

Call and voice your outrage at this murder of an innocent man! Demand that the offending thug cops be fired and subsequently indicted for murder! Tell the Police Chief that if he doesn’t do so then the people will take justice into their own hands and seek revenge on the murderous thug cops involved in this killing.

Culver City Police Department
Police Chief Don Pederson
310-253-6100