Police released video and audio Friday surrounding a shooting involving an officer and bystander who opened fire during a foot pursuit in a South Los Angeles housing project last month.
Both 39-year-old Curley Duff of Los Angeles and the officer were left wounded after the April 20 shooting at the Pueblo Del Rio complex, near where Holmes Avenue rounds into 51st Street, according to the L.A. Police Department.
The incident began when police were following a different man driving a BMW 7 Series who blew through a stop sign at Holmes Avenue and 52nd Street around 9:20 p.m. A pair of officers followed the car until the driver parked and ran into the housing development, and a foot pursuit ensued, LAPD dashcam video shows.
The officers were assigned to a gang investigation unit, officials said.
Surveillance video from the project shows the officers chasing the driver through a courtyard. The man identified as Duff was sitting at a picnic table as they ran by.
As the pursuit rounds behind a building and back up to near where Duff sat, he got up and pointed a handgun at one of the officers then shot him, Capt. Gisselle Espinoza said.
The officer immediately returned fire, video shows.
On April 20 LAPD Newton ofcrs stopped a car for running a stop sign, the driver fled on foot & they gave chase. A bystander then came out of nowhere & shot an ofcr at point-blank range. Fortunately, the ofcr survived this terrifying incident. Full video 🔗 https://t.co/zh9KXInqiT pic.twitter.com/WjCg4wJ9jn
— LAPD HQ (@LAPDHQ) May 24, 2019
Both men were struck. In bodycam footage, the officer can be heard telling his partner, “I’m hit bro, in my leg.”
The officer, whose name has not been released, remained walking and talking for a little over a minute before falling to the ground in pain.
Duff, meanwhile, was lying on the ground motionless while police ordered him handcuffed.
A patrol car transported the officer to the hospital, where he was in stable condition after undergoing surgery. Duff was taken to the hospital by ambulance.
LAPD did not say if the driver being sought was ever taken into custody.
Because of the large crowd that gathered at the shooting scene, officers decided to remove Duff’s gun from where it lay on the ground and place it in a police car, rather than waiting for specialized police shooting investigators to retrieve it as is protocol, Espinoza said.
Investigators have since taken custody of the gun, she added.
Four days after the shooting, on April 24, Duff was charged with attempted murder of a police officer, police said.
He’s being held on $2.095 million bail, inmate records show.
