An image from the video of a Los Angeles, California, police officer shooting Dominguez on November 19. Dwight F Lewis
Jesse Dominguez, a 33-year-old aspiring actor, has joined the list of victims of police brutality in the United States. At least that’s what the family of this man, who suffered from bipolar episodes and addictions, believes. His parents believe this explosive cocktail of drugs and mental health was responsible for an interaction with a California State Police officer that led to Dominguez’s death Sunday night.
On Sunday, police received calls indicating that a man was traveling on Highway 105, a road that crosses Los Angeles from east to west and where tens of thousands of cars pass by every day. Agents arrived in the town of Watts around 3:30 a.m. They found Dominguez on the asphalt of the highway that leads to the Pacific Ocean. Some officers focused on redirecting traffic while another walked directly toward the man.
This meeting, which lasted just a few minutes, was fateful. A passerby’s cell phone camera captured Dominguez lying face up on the concrete. Standing above him is the police officer who came to him. The two men fight until the uniformed man stands up, draws his gun and shoots at close range at the man who is pointing at him with his left hand. The officer continues shooting while walking backwards until Dominguez’s body stops moving. The man was pronounced dead at the hospital.
As can be seen from the video posted on social media, the police officer shot Dwight F. Lewis several times at close range
The harsh images They went viral. On Monday evening, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) said in a statement that Dominguez produced a Taser gun, a defensive weapon that delivers an electric shock, during the fight. “He activated the weapon and used it against the officer. After the pedestrian used his weapon against the police officer and feared for his safety, the officer fired his service weapon at the pedestrian,” the text published on Monday evening says.
Following the release of the video, local politicians from the area where the shooting took place also made their position known. “It is disturbing,” local Senator Steven Bradford, Congressman Mike Gipson and Councilman Tim McOsker said in a joint statement. “This appears to be an unnecessary use of force. The community deserves answers. “If the roles had been reversed, people would have immediately called for a murder charge,” they said.
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The California Department of Justice is investigating the incident. This local institution is the one that typically investigates police shootings. They would have to determine whether the person was unarmed or whether the officer, whose name was not released, was exaggerated in his reaction. At this time, the local judiciary has not indicated whether it is investigating this death as a homicide.
“This is police brutality, without a doubt,” Akasha Dominguez, the deceased’s stepmother, told the Los Angeles Times. The Los Angeles newspaper found the victim’s family. “In many cases the police had my support, but in other cases they used excessive force. I never had to be on the other side. Now I see things from a different perspective,” Dominguez told the press.
Jesse’s relatives have confirmed that he was carrying a Taser for protection. According to his father, who gave his son the same name, the latest police victim had fallen into a deep depression after failing to find work as an actor. His dream was to be successful in Hollywood as a film star or to become a singer. But he could never find a single job in the industry. Instead, he worked several times as a waiter. None of this allowed him to stabilize and find a home. His family, on the other hand, tried to convince him to look for work in other industries or to study. “It was the only thing he wanted to do and we didn’t want to crush his dreams,” Jesse Dominguez Sr. said.