In the midst of a nine-day manhunt for ex-police officer Christopher Dorner in Los Angeles, LA Police Department officers fired more than 100 shots at Emma Hernandez, 71, and her daughter, Margie Carranza, 47, while the two were delivering newspapers at 5 a.m. Feb. 7, according to a Feb. 9 story in The LA Times. Both were injured — one shot twice and the other hurt by exploding glass. LAPD officers believed one of the newspaper deliverywomen could have been the ex-officer because their pick-up truck loosely matched the description of Dorner’s truck. Tuesday, the women and city officials agreed to a $4.2 million settlement, the LA Times reported.
While the settlement is no doubt sufficient for their injuries and psychological trauma, these women deserved to see these officers terminated. According to their lawyer, they received no verbal warning before multiple officers opened fire. And to fire more than 100 times at a suspect? That’s just obscene. On top of that, the women were driving a blue Toyota Tacoma, but Dorner reportedly drove a gray Nissan Titan — two incredibly different trucks. There needs to be an additional compensation for life-threatening mistakes such as these.
To only settle on monetary payment instead of also terminating the police officers is completely wrong. Granted, the situation was tense considering Dorner murdered multiple people by the time police fired at the women, but there is no excuse for the officers’ extreme actions. It should be a given that officers warn potential targets before opening fire to allow the targets — even if they are the actual suspects — to stand down nonviolently if no immediate danger is presented. This is especially true in this situation, given the high chances of collateral damage in firing on a vehicle without certainty that the suspect in question is inside. Yet, the LAPD officers have not been disciplined.
There has been no admission of a mistake, but LAPD Chief Charlie Beck personally apologized to the women. Yes, the city gave the women $40,000 for a new truck and an additional $4.2 million, but that comes right out of taxpayers’ pockets. If city officials are making mistakes that cost this much and have not been disciplined, they should not be employed.
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