LAPD colleagues tried to intervene when officer used police car to knock down armed man

The civilian police oversight panel has agreed with LAPD Chief Michel Moore, seen in December, that it was a clear violation of policy when Officer Oswaldo Pedemonte drove into a man in North Hollywood last year. Two Los Angeles police officers tried to intervene when a colleague intentionally struck a knife-wielding man with a department SUV last year in an attempt to disarm the man — a maneuver that the civilian Police Commission has now ruled was a clear violation of LAPD policy. Commissioners agreed with Chief Michel Moore and an internal Los Angeles Police Department review board that found the officer, Oswaldo Pedemonte, had broken from policy when he drove into 31-year-old Jonathan Mitrani at a slow speed, knocking him to the ground during an encounter in North Hollywood last February. I’m gonna use the vehicle as an impact weapon,” Pedemonte said, according to a transcript from the interview, adding that he “did not want to run him over.” In another recent ruling, the civilian commission said that three Rampart Division officers were justified in fatally shooting a woman who had pointed what turned out to be a replica revolver in their direction.