Video shows moment sheriff's deputies shot, injured La Puente man holding paint roller
Videos released Tuesday show the moment Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies shot and injured a La Puente man who was having a mental health crisis and holding a paint roller in his hand.
Lawyers for the man released the video, saying it will be crucial to a lawsuit the family plans to file against the county over the shooting.
The videos were released less than a week after deputies shot Isael Orellana, 43, outside his home on the 600 block of Willow Avenue around 1:20 a.m. Friday. An attorney for Orellana's family said he was having a mental health episode and carrying a metal paint roller. The department described the roller as "a weapon."
Officers told Orellana to drop the paint roller, but he refused, according to the department. They pepper sprayed him, and when he raised the roller at an officer, a deputy shot him, the Sheriff's Department said. He was hospitalized and survived the shooting.
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The two videos of the incident, one taken by a nearby surveillance camera and another taken by someone at the scene, revealed the moments leading up to the shooting as two responding officers pointed guns at Orellana as he paced around the driveway.
The videos both show Orellana standing a few feet from the deputies in the house's driveway while holding the paint roller. Family members can be seen and heard in the background crying and begging Orellana to sit down or go inside.
At one point in the video, Orellana takes a step toward the deputies and raises the paint roller above his head. The deputies step back as well, the video shows. Orellana then walks farther away from the officers, about 10 feet.
Video then shows an object thrown at the officers that appears to be the paint roller. Although Orellana is offscreen when the object is thrown, it comes from where he is standing.
The object hits one of the deputies in the leg and rolls off to the side. That officer fires three shots at Orellana as family members scream, the video shows.
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"It’s a paintbrush. It’s not like it was a knife or rock," said Ed Obayashi, a deputy sheriff and policy advisor for the Modoc County Sheriff's Department and use of force expert.
Obayashi, who viewed the videos, said the shooting would "look much more unjustified to the public than other more violent confrontations where officers are attacked with objects that would be considered deadly weapons, like a knife or bat."
Orellana's lawyer, Damon Alimouri, said the deputy shot Orellana for no reason.
"The L.A. County sheriff's deputies who were part of this used excessive force and ultimately without any justification shot at an unarmed man who at the end of the day had a sponge on a stick in his hand and was dealing with a mental health episode," Alimouri told The Times.
Alimouri filed a claim with the county Monday, and family members say they plan to sue the department for excessive force.
"Orellana did not commit a crime nor did he harm anyone, the call was merely for help. Despite no ongoing emergency, LASD deputies arrived to the Orellana home and aggressively approached [Orellana] who was outside of his home," Alimouri wrote in the notice of claim shared with The Times.
Alimouri said that Orellana's family had called police three times that day but that police only responded the third time.
The 43-year-old Orellana has been in custody at Men's Central Jail, Alimouri said. His family said he was still bleeding from the shooting.
Alimouri said Orellana was shot three times in the lower torso.
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Alimouri said that though Orellana was supposed to be arraigned Tuesday on charges of assault on a peace officer, the prosecutor's office informed him that they would be releasing Orellana with no charges filed.
A spokeswoman for the district attorney's office confirmed no charges were immediately filed against Orellana.
"The case was sent back to law enforcement for further investigation," said Venusse Dunn.
"The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has not officially received this claim but takes all deputy-involved shootings seriously," said the Sheriff's Department in a statement.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
