Menacing Man Armed with a Knife NR11533kr

UPDATENovember 18, 2011

The officer involved in the below listed Officer Involved Shooting has been identified as
Police Officer Daniel Malek.  Officer Malek has been with the Los Angeles Police Department for six years and three months.

Los Angeles: A man armed with a large knife threatened citizens and officers, resulting in an officer involved shooting.

On November 13, 2011, at about 4:40 p.m., two Southwest Area Patrol Police Officers on loan to the Central Area Occupy Los Angeles Task Force were flagged down by an unidentified female citizen at 7th and Los Angeles Streets.  The citizen told the officers that there was a man walking up and down Los Angeles Street with a large knife in his hand.

The officers drove north on Los Angeles Street, where they found the suspect, 73-year-old James Proctor, standing in front of a business in the 650 block of South Los Angeles Street.  Proctor had his back to the officers and they could see a large knife sticking out of Proctor’s right rear pants pocket.

The officers called for additional resources and another patrol unit arrived. Two officers were armed with their duty weapons; one officer armed themselves with a Beanbag shotgun and the other with a TASER.

Officers tried to communicate with Proctor, giving him numerous orders to turn away from them and put his hands above his head, but he refused to comply. Proctor suddenly grabbed the knife from his rear pocket with his right hand, while turning his upper torso toward the officers, resulting in an officer-involved shooting.  Simultaneously the suspect was hit by gunfire, the beanbag shotgun, and the TASER.

An ambulance was immediately requested and Proctor was transported to a local hospital for treatment of his injuries.  No officers were injured during this incident.

The LAPD Force Investigation Division responded to the incident and is conducting a thorough investigation of the officer-involved shooting and all related crimes.
 
The investigation will ultimately be reviewed by the Chief of Police, the Office of the Inspector General and Board of Police Commissioners for compliance with the Department’s use-of-force policy which states that an officer’s use-of-force actions must be objectively reasonable.  Additionally, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Justice System Integrity Division will conduct a comprehensive review of the facts of the officer-involved shooting.

Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to call Force Investigation Division at 213-426-5200.  During non-business hours or on weekends, calls should be directed to 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (877-527-3247).  Anyone wishing to remain anonymous should call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477). Tipsters may also contact Crime Stoppers by texting to phone number 274637 (C-R-I-M-E-S on most keypads) with a cell phone.  All text messages should begin with the letters “LAPD.”  Tipsters may also go to LAPDOnline.org, click on "webtips" and follow the prompts.