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An indigenous Guatemalan man named Manual Jamines was shot in the head and killed by Los Angeles Police officers in the Westlake area of Los Angeles over the Labor Day weekend. The Sunday evening shooting prompted hundreds of people protesting against the LAPD for three consecutive nights during which several arrests were made and at least three police officers injured. Thirty seven year old Jamines, a K’iche’ speaking immigrant working as a day-laborer, left behind a wife and three children in Guatemala. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck has defended the shooting saying that the three officers involved, Frank Hernandez, who fired the shots, Steven Rodriguez, and Paris Pineda, have all been on the force for at least five years. He also says that the shots were fired merely 40 seconds after the police initiated contact with Jaminez. LAPD claims that Jamines was drunk and lunged at the officers with a knife in his hand. Chief Beck attended a community meeting last night, and has pledged to launch an investigation into the incident. The Westlake-MacArthur Park area of Los Angeles is home to a large Central American immigrant population, many of whom are indigenous and do not speak Spanish. On May Day 2007 the LAPD was involved in a violent attack on a peaceful immigrants rights gathering in MacArthur Park that eventually resulted in the city paying out more than $13 million in legal settlements.

GUESTS: Luis Carrillo, Consulting Attorney with the Guatemalan Consul General and a civil rights lawyer, Robert Foss, Legal Director of the International Institute of Los Angeles and former legal Director of CARECEN (Central American Resource Center).

Special thanks to Ernesto Arce.