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 announced.
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 previously fought with a bouncer. His death 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 defeated Gascón in November’s election, will review the case and decide whether to proceed with prosecution, the statement added.
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, then-LA District Attorney Jackie Lacey declined to press charges, citing insufficient evidence to prove Proctor acted unlawfully when he used deadly force.
According to police, Glenn was on his stomach, attempting to push himself up when Proctor shot him in the back. Glenn was not attempting to take a gun from Proctor or his partner at the time of the shooting. Proctor’s partner told investigators he did not know why the officer opened fire, police 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 scheduled for Nov. 3.