A 51-year-old Oceanside man shot to death by police after a wild pursuit in a Corvette was mentally ill, paranoid and needed help according to his lifelong friend.
Brian Beaird chose to run from Los Angeles police officers Friday because he suffered from schizophrenia, said friend Gilbert Vasquez.
“He heard voices so he probably saw the helicopter lights, the lights of the cops pursuing him,” Vasquez said. “It scared the hell out of him.”
Beaird, a National Guard veteran, swerved and sped through South Los Angeles for more than a hour before T-boning another car in an intersection.
LAPD officers shot and killed Beaird at the end of the televised pursuit.
Beaird was unarmed.
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said Monday he would reserve comment until the investigation is complete.
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“It’s very different to see something from 1,200 feet from a helicopter than 15 feet in the dust and the noise,” he said. “So I reserve judgment.”
When asked if the sound of a non-lethal beanbag round being shot may have prompted other officers to start firing, Beck didn’t answer directly. But he said that normally officers yell out to others to avoid firing in confusion.
“Before an officer discharges a beanbag, the protocol is to loudly state, ‘bean bag ready! Bean bag ready!’ so that everybody knows that the next detonation that they hear is not a gunshot,” he said.
The LAPD has not yet said if a bean bag was deployed.
But Vasquez insists his friend needed help and only non-lethal force should have been used.
“It's outrageous that this police department chose to use a shoot to kill policy on him,” Vasquez said. “He was unarmed. He didn't have anything.”
