The LAPD said Tuesday that an internal investigation had been opened into the leak of police station security video that showed a Harbor Division officer being attacked and a second officer exchanging gunfire with the attacker.
"A formal complaint has been initiated by professional standards bureau," Assistant Chief Robert Arcos told members of the Board of Los Angeles Police Commissioners.
The video, first published online by the Los Angeles Times and later broadcast by NBCLA, shows the moment a uniformed officer was struck by a man in the lobby of the Harbor Station on the night of Sept. 26.
The man is able to remove the officer's handgun from its holster and, according to LAPD officials, appears to try to shoot the officer in the chest. The pistol didn't fire, possibly because its safety was switched on.
The video then shows a second officer emerge from an office and exchange shots with the man, who was apparently able to remove the safety. The man was arrested after a short car chase and the officer's gun was found inside the man's car, police said.
The alleged attacker, later identified by police as 29-year-old Jose Cerpa Guzman, was charged last week with two counts of attempted murder of a peace officer, two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, and one count each of robbery, evading, and resisting an officer, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
At a Police Commission meeting on Sept. 29 Chief Michel Moore was asked to find out how the video became public.
"We'll do what we can to investigate to identify who is responsible, and also the systems that are in place on that to control such an unauthorized release," Moore said, and added that he didn't think the media's unauthorized release of the video was right.
He also told Commissioners that the Harbor attack was just the latest example of an increase in the number of assaults on police officers.
"We've seen a 156% increase this year to date. That's 282 felonious assaults versus 110, during the same period last year," the Chief said.
