A video recently released by the Los Angeles Police Department on Monday shows how a confrontation last month between an undercover officer and an unarmed 18-year-old ended in a fatal shooting.
The family of Ricardo “Ricky” Ramirez Jr. recently announced that they are asking the state attorney general to file criminal charges. They are considering suing the city for involuntary manslaughter.
On July 13, at approximately 10:25 p.m., Ramirez was in a silver Cadillac with three other occupants, all wearing ski masks. Sergeant Michael Pounds began following them. Authorities believed they were “in a possible conflict with the driver of another vehicle,” according to a department statement.
The video shows the Cadillac blocking a Toyota Camry at the corner of 66th Street and Figueroa Street. The four occupants of the Cadillac exit the car and surround the Camry. Other cars behind the Camry begin to back up before it speeds away.
“Follow that car, because they were all masked. Follow that car. Follow that car,” a police officer says over the radio. A marked officer is called to stop the Cadillac.
Instead, Pounds — who originally ran an anti-prostitution operation along Figueroa Street in South Los Angeles — followed the Cadillac for 10 blocks without lights or sirens until it stopped, blocking both lanes of traffic on the 400 block of 66th Street near the intersection with Flower Street.
The video shows Ramirez exiting the Cadillac and running toward the driver’s side door of Pounds’ unmarked vehicle. Immediately, Pounds fired a shot through the window, hitting Ramirez in the chest. Ramirez fell to the ground, crawled and collapsed on the street.
Officers arrive and handcuff Ramirez before calling an ambulance and beginning CPR.
Police said in a July 18 news release that two passengers exited the Cadillac and approached Pounds’ vehicle from either side, but only Ramirez is visible in the video.
“It’s a parent’s worst nightmare to learn their child has been killed, and now, seeing the video, the horror is compounded: Ricky was shot in cold blood, with both hands outstretched, without a gun,” Ramirez’s father, Ricardo Ramirez Sr., said in a statement.
“I watched my son come into this world and, horrifically, watched him be taken out of this world by a trigger-happy police officer,” Ramirez’s mother, Renee Villalobos, said in the same statement.
The family’s attorney, Christopher Dolan, said Pounds had no reason to shoot and that the officer never identified himself as a law enforcement officer. It was a matter of “shooting and asking questions later,” Dolan said.
“We will vigorously pursue this case to bring justice to Ricky and his family,” the attorney said.
The incident remains under investigation, according to the LAPD.
