Officers’ actions at two houses in the San Fernando Valley are being looked into by the Los Angeles Police Department. The officers were investigating reports of violent assaults but did not find the victims because they did not go inside.
In both cases, people who called 911 said they heard or saw a violent, ongoing attack. Later, bodies were found at both sites.
Chief Jim McDonnell of the LAPD talked about the two incidents at a meeting of the city’s civilian police commission on Tuesday. This commission is in charge of overseeing the police force. McDonnell admitted that police did not go into either home right away and said that he has started administrative reviews into how they responded.
Menashe Hidra’s body was found on April 26 in his fifth-floor Valley Village apartment. He had been attacked by someone who broke into a neighbouring unit, jumped from the balcony to his and then attacked him.
A man yelled, “I’m going to die!” three days before the neighbours called the police to report hearing screaming. People in law enforcement say, “I’m going to die.” When the police were called, they went to the house, knocked, and then left without finding anything.
There was another body found on the same day as Hidra’s. It was that of Aleksandre Modebadze, who had been beaten to death in his Woodland Hills home. In that case, a woman inside the house called 911 to report the assault, but when police came, they knocked and then left. When they came back later, they found Modebadze badly hurt and dead.
There was a meeting on Tuesday, and Commissioner Rasha Gerges Shields asked the chief how the department knows if a call is real and someone “may need your help” is inside. This type of call is often called “swatting” and is meant to get a lot of police to the victim’s house.
The boss said it was hard. If the police come and no one answers, the 911 operator will try to call the person who called to get more information. They will also look at past incidents at the same address to help the police make a decision. McDonnell said that police will also try to talk to neighbours before going into a place.
“It’s polite not to just break down a door and go inside,” he said. “That’s why we’re going into it pretty deeply.”
The two murders don’t seem to be connected right now, the chief said.
The people suspected of killing Hidra in Woodland Hills have been caught, but the man seen on Ring door camera video walking around the Valley Village apartment complex where Hidra was killed is still on the loose. The police chief said they think they have found the attacker, who has a past of violent crimes.
Hidra’s body was found in his top-floor flat at the Ashton Sherman Village complex around 2:30 p.m. by Van Nuys division police who were checking on him because a friend was worried. At the scene, they said he was dead. He had a hole in his head, and there was blood on the floor next to him, according to people who know about the police report.