LOS ANGELES — A grand jury indictment was unsealed Friday, charging a former Los Angeles police officer in the May 2015 shooting death of an unarmed homeless man in Venice, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said.
Clifford Proctor pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
Brendan Glenn, 29, was killed during a struggle with officers outside a bar where he had fought with a bouncer. His name later became a rallying cry against police shootings in Los Angeles. Both Glenn and Proctor are Black.
The office of current LA District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement that the indictment comes after the previous district attorney, George Gascón, reexamined 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 proceed with the prosecution, 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, LA District Attorney Jackie Lacey declined to press charges, saying there was insufficient evidence to prove Proctor acted unlawfully when he used deadly force.
According to police, Glenn was on his stomach and trying to push himself up when Proctor shot him in the back. He wasn’t attempting to take a gun from Proctor or his partner when he was shot. Proctor’s partner told investigators that he didn’t know why the officer opened fire, police have said.
Proctor resigned 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 jail. His next court date is Nov. 3.